[Re: Publishers launch free journal access for libraries<http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/publishers-launch-free-journal-access-for-libraries/2010999.article>(Paul Jump, THE)]
The primary intended beneficiaries of research are the public that funds the research. The primary way in which the public benefits from the research it funds is if all researchers can access, use, build upon and apply it. Research is pubished in journals to which researchers' publicly funded institutions (mostly universities) subscribe. But institutions can only afford to subscribe to a small fraction of those journals. because of the high price of journals and the scarcity of research funds. That means that researchers are denied access to a large fraction of publicly funded research. That means the public is losing a large fraction of the potential returns on its investment in the research in has funded. Publishers not only overcharge for access to the publicly funded research that researchers give them for free and that researchers peer-review for them for free... Publishers also deny (embargo) non-subscriber access for 6 months, a year, 2 years, or even longer to the researchers who can use, build upon and apply it if their institutions cannot afford to subscribe to the journal in which it is published. And what do publishers offer as a remedy to the researchers, institutions and funding councils who have been calling for access to publicly funded research for all its potential users, not just subscribers? Public library access: Let researchers from institutions that cannot afford subscription access betake themselves to a public library whenever they need to access research published in any journal to which their institution cannot afford to subscribe. And this munificence is offered in an online era when all of research could be at the fingertips of all researchers whenever and wherever they are doing their scientific or scholarly research. Meanwhile, let the public console itself by reading the research it has funded, while the researchers who can use, build upon and apply it are denied access unless they hightail it to the public library whenever they need to use anything to which their institutions cannot afford to subscribe. Good job they didn't propose that it be made accessible at their houses of worship instead...
_______________________________________________ GOAL mailing list GOAL@eprints.org http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal
