Indeed, how do you see ChemRefer evolving, presumably, you'd like it to be the open access equivalent in chemistry of PubMed?
I am currently looking at various options....Naturally, ChemRefer aims to allow users to search as much chemical and related literature as possible, but this must not be done for the sake of having millions of searchable articles. The quality of search results must be high and I am aware of the comparison with PubMed, but it's not a reality just yet....ChemRefer is also commercial and this throws up entirely different opportunities/risks since publicly backed projects have an assured stream of funding....
In terms of the OpenAccess movement itself, I assume you consider it important, but can you tell me why you think so?
Relative to other subjects, chemistry is expensive to teach and practice in and therefore unattractive to finance. It makes no sense for governments to shell out for this only to have the fruits of their expenditure (the published research) withheld by those who did not pay for it. If this burden were removed, companies and especially libraries could then direct more attention to improving scientific educational resources. Anyone could open a library on a shoestring and quickly make the most authoritative content available to a local community.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 6/20/2006 09:13:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
