Dear Stevan: You may write such popular articles periodically and send them to feature services who may distribute them to newspapers worldwide.
You may also target library science journals. Regards. Arun --- Stevan Harnad <har...@ecs.soton.ac.uk> wrote: > Dear Arun, > > Thanks for the suggestions: I know not all 1000 OA > journals > recover costs from author-charges, but this is a > very simple > general-public article, and I did not want to add > needless complications. > (People seem to have enough trouble understanding as > it is!) > > Also, Bioline is a very worthy organization, but it > is not > a no-toll service but a low-toll (and sometimes > no-toll) one. > Again, this mixes two agendas, and for this article, > I wanted > to keep it simple: open-access only! > > Don't worry, I will promote Bioline in the > appropriate places! > > Best wishes, > > Stevan > > On Tue, 6 Jan 2004, [iso-8859-1] Subbiah Arunachalam > wrote: > > > Stevan: > > > > Not all 1000 or so open access journals charge the > > authors' institution a publication fee as do > BioMed > > Central and PLoS. I don't think BMJ charges any > fee. > > Nor does Current Science. Of course, Current > Science > > gets part of its revenue from subscription to the > > print version and the rest from grants received by > the > > Current Science Association and the Indian Academy > of > > Sciences. > > > > At the end of your communication, you may kindly > add > > the appropriate URL for Bioline, which > particularly > > serves journals from developing countries. > > > > Regards. > > > > Arun > > > > --- Stevan Harnad <har...@ecs.soton.ac.uk> wrote: > > I > > have not transferred copyright for this piece > > > (which just appeared in > > > the Montreal Gazette). > > > > > > http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=8e912f55-eb8e-459e-8e7a-a7bd6d8dc995 > > > > > > So I hereby invite anyone who wishes to > republish it > > > in order to help > > > promote open access to do so. It is written in a > > > popular style, so if > > > you can place it in any newspapers or magazines, > > > please do go ahead! > > > (I don't care if it appears under my name or > > > generically.) > > > > > > (The full-text below diverges slightly from the > > > published Gazette version, > > > e.g., in the title. -- SH) > > > > > > Let All Knowledge Be Free That Wants to be Free > > > > > > Stevan Harnad > > > http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/ > > > > > > Some well-meaning cowboys have noticed a > similarity > > > between the > > > World-Wide-Web and the Wild-Wild-West, with its > > > limitless space, free > > > for the taking. They've concluded that the Web > Age > > > means we can at last > > > have free access to all knowledge. > > > > > > I wish they had been right, but unfortunately > > > knowledge is produced by > > > people, and not all people want to give away > their > > > work for free! > > > > > > The authors of most books, for example, are > quite > > > aware that the Web is a > > > medium in which texts can be made accessible to > > > anyone who clicks on them, > > > but they'd rather their readers paid for access. > > > Same is true for singers > > > and song-writers, and for most writers of > computer > > > software. Human nature > > > being what it is -- and the demands of daily > > > survival being what they > > > are -- most people would prefer to be paid for > their > > > work, regardless > > > of whether their product is physical goods and > > > services or abstract > > > knowledge. If I cannot be paid for it, why > bother to > > > do the work at all? > > > > > > But there is one prominent exception. University > > > reseachers are paid to *do* > > > research, but they publish it (in research > journals) > > > for free. Unlike all > > > other authors, they don't ask for any fee or > royalty > > > for these writings. > > > > > > Why? > > > > > > Because in publishing them they are not looking > for > > > sales revenue but > > > for "research impact." How many users read, > apply, > > > use, build-upon and cite > > > my research? Those are the numbers on which the > > > researcher's career and > > > research-funding depend. > > > > > > So what's the problem then? This knowledge was > > > give-away knowledge > > > already in the paper era. Now that we have the > Web, > > > we can give > > > it all away big-time! > > > > > > Not so fast! > > > > > > I said the researchers give it away, but that > > > doesn't mean its users don't > > > have to pay! For the only way to get access -- > > > either on paper or online > > > -- to the contents of the 24,000 research > journals > > > in which 2.5 million > > > research articles appear yearly every year is > for > > > the would-be user's > > > university to pay for access. And the fact is > that > > > the access-tolls > > > are so high that universities can afford access > only > > > to a small and > > > shrinking fraction of them. That means that the > > > world's research output > > > is inaccessible to most of its would-be users, > > > despite the fact that it > > > is and always has been an author give-away! > > > > > > This represents a great loss to research, > > > researchers, their institutions, > > > their research funders, and the tax-payers who > are > > > paying for it all. It > > > has been estimated that articles that are > accessible > > > toll-free on the > > > Web have 336% more research impact than those > that > > > are only available > > > via toll-access. (336% may not seem like a large > > > increase, but > > > considering that most research is not cited at > all, > > > this figure is > > > actually astronomical.) > > > > > > Why are there still access-blocking tolls, then? > So > > > that journals can > > > continuing making ends meet. Why do we still > need > > > journals at all, if > > > access can be provided for free on the Web? > Because > > > journals provide "peer > > > review," which ensures that the research is > reliable > === message truncated === ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger - Communicate instantly..."Ping" your friends today! Download Messenger Now http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/download/index.html