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More on checks
and balances and access to information.
Viva la Internet! KWC New Premise in Science: Get the
Word Out Quickly, Online http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/17/science/17JOUR.html (Opening and
concluding paragraphs) A group of prominent
scientists is mounting an electronic challenge to the leading scientific
journals, accusing them of holding back the progress of science by restricting
online access to their articles so they can reap higher profits. Supported by a $9 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore
Foundation, the scientists say that this week they will announce the creation
of two peer-reviewed online journals on biology and medicine, with the goal of
cornering the best scientific papers and immediately depositing them in the
public domain. By providing a highly
visible alternative to what they view as an outmoded system of distributing
information, the founders hope science itself will be transformed. The two
journals are the first of what they envision as a vast electronic library in
which no one has to pay dues or seek permission to read, copy or use the
collective product of the world's academic research. "The written record is the lifeblood
of science,"
said Dr. Harold E. Varmus, a Nobel laureate in medicine who is serving as the
chairman of the new nonprofit publisher. "Our ability to build on the old to discover the new is
all based on the way we disseminate our results." By contrast,
established journals like Science
and Nature
charge steep annual subscription fees and bar access to their online editions
to nonsubscribers, although Science recently began providing free electronic
access to articles a year after publication. The new publishing venture, PUBLIC LIBRARY OF SCIENCE, is an
outgrowth of several years of friction between scientists and the journals over
who should control access to scientific literature in the electronic age. For most scientists, who typically
assign their copyright to the journals for no compensation, the main goal is to
distribute their work as widely as possible. …..That is when Dr.
Varmus and his colleagues became convinced that they needed to raise money to
start their own publication. After being rejected by several traditional
science research foundations, the scientists found a sympathetic ear at the
Silicon Valley foundation whose benefactor, Dr. Gordon E. Moore, was the
co-founder of "Scientists are a conservative bunch," said Dr.
Edward Penhoet, the foundation's senior director for science. "In the
short term they'll still be publishing in Cell and other places. But in the long
term, I think this has the potential to dramatically facilitate science." Outgoing Mail Scanned by NAV 2002 |
