On Tue, Nov 22, 2011 at 11:57 AM, Michael Eisen <mbei...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Under the current model members of the public who > want to access a paper are paying for THE PAPER twice. They are heavily > subsidizing the subscriptions that pay for journals - providing far more > than the cost of publishing through indirect costs and other means. And then > they're paying again to access the article themselves. I wish it were that simple, Mike, but it's not. On Fri, 18 Nov 2011, Stevan Harnad wrote: > Are tax-payers paying twice when universities pay to buy for their users > books based on tax-payer funded scholarly and scientific research? > > If not, then tax-payers are not "paying twice" when universities pay to buy > journal subscriptions for their users either. > > (Whereas if so, then Open Access is up against a far, far bigger obstacle > than journal subscription access barriers: They are up against the entire > book industry, including both its publishers and its authors. And US research > funder mandates cannot and will not change that.) > > Please let's stick to the fair, real, realistic and unassailable rationale > for mandating open access: > > Research is funded (by the tax payer) and conducted and published (by the > researcher) so that its findings can be accessed, used and built upon by its > primary intended users (researchers) for the benefit of the tax-payer and > research progress.
