Scientific American has a four-page Web article prompted by the Public Library of Science initiative at http://www.sciam.com/explorations/2001/042301publish/. It is entitled "Publish Free or Perish."
An interesting critique of the Science editors' response to the Public Library of Science initiative is at http://www.publiclibraryofscience.org/plosScience.htm. I suspect that as more journal articles become conveniently accessible, without tolls, six months to a year after publication, authors of journal articles will become increasingly willing to pay a fair price for _immediate_ free web access (IFWA). The Entomological Society of America is currently the only publisher that offers its authors this opportunity. For the first two months of 2001, 44% of the authors of articles in ESA's four principal journals paid for IFWA. For the March issue of its Journal of Medical Entomology, 53% of authors paid. ESA is making money and their authors are being allowed to buy something they want. Will authors in other society-published journals have to lobby their governing boards before being offered convenient IFWA at a fair price? ESA's publications are at http://www.entsoc.org/pubs/. I've posted an 800-word commentary on "Market-driven free access to journal articles" at http://csssrvr.entnem.ufl.edu/~walker/fewww/tjwonwww.htm. Tom Walker ============================================ Thomas J. Walker Department of Entomology & Nematology PO Box 110620 (or Natural Area Drive) University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-0620 E-mail: t...@ufl.edu FAX: (352)392-0190 Web: http://csssrvr.entnem.ufl.edu/~walker/tjwbib/walker.htm ============================================
