Note that that AAAS's Science too has an ongoing dEbate on this same rapidly developing topic at:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/eletters/291/5512/2318a and http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/eletters/291/5512/2318b All interested parties are encouraged to make their views known in both the Nature and the Science Fora -- and to branch them also here to the American Scientist Forum: [email protected] http://amsci-forum.amsci.org/archives/American-Scientist-Open-Access-Forum.html S.H. On Fri, 6 Apr 2001, Declan Butler, Nature wrote: > Nature launches web debate "Future e-access to the primary literature" > > The communication of research results impacts on everyone involved in > science. Today, Nature launches an online debate on the most crucial and > talked-about aspect of scientific publishing -- the impact of the > web on the publication of original research. The debate is freely > accessible > via Nature's home page (http://www.nature.com) or directly at > http://www.nature.com/nature/debates/e-access/index.html > > The site will debate the recent and prominent initiative by researchers > to force publishers to release archived reports of original research > into centralized, freely available and unrestricted databases. > This initiative, known as 'The Public Library of Science' (PLS ), will > be discussed from a range of perspectives, from the advocates of free > access to those who worry about its potential negative impacts on science. > > But we have also commissioned articles that go beyond the PLS debate > from, among others, experts in scientific information management and > commerce. Reactions to the posted articles are welcome and a selection > posted, following selection by moderators Tony Delamothe, Web Editor, > British Medical > Journal and Declan Butler, European correspondent, Nature. > > Declan Butler > > > > > Today's set of papers includes views from: > > Ann Okerson, Associate University Librarian at Yale University > Derk Haank, CEO, Elsevier Science > Frank Gannon, Executive Director, European Molecular Biology > Organization > Ira Mellman, Editor, The Journal of Cell Biology, Yale University School > of Medicine > Edwin Sequeira, Jo McEntyre and David J. Lipman, National Center for > Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National > Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA > Jo McEntyre and David J. Lipman, National Center for Biotechnology > Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of > Health, Bethesda, USA > Les Grivell, Director, E-BioSci; a European archive initiative > Martin Richardson, Publishing Director, Oxford University Press > Robert D. Wells, President, American Society for Biochemistry and > Molecular Biology, and Herbert Tabor, M.D. Editor, J. Biol. Chem > > > The content will build up over the next few weeks; scheduled authors > include: > > Amos Bairoch, cofounder of the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and > GeneBio (Geneva Bioinformatics SA). > Andrew Odlyzko, AT&T Labs > Dale Flecker, Associate Director for Planning and Systems, Harvard > University Library > Hans Roosendaal, Director Scientific Information, University of Twente, > Dinkel Institute > Jim Hendler, US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency > John R. Inglis, Director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press > Jon Bosak, Sun Microsystems > Martin Blume, Editor-in-Chief, American Physical Society journals > Michael Keller, Publisher, HighWire Press > Rick Luce, director, Research Library of Los Alamos National Laboratory > Robert Campbell, Blackwell Science > Stuart Weibel, OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. > Tom Sanville, Executive Director, Ohiolink >
