Scientific American has a four-page Web article prompted by the Public
Library of Science initiative at
http://www.sciam.com/explorations/2001/042301publish/. It is entitled
"Publish Free or Perish."
An interesting critique of the Science editors' response to the Public
Library of Science initiative is at
http://www.publiclibraryofscience.org/plosScience.htm.
I suspect that as more journal articles become conveniently accessible,
without tolls, six months to a year after publication, authors of journal
articles will become increasingly willing to pay a fair price for
_immediate_ free web access (IFWA). The Entomological Society of America
is currently the only publisher that offers its authors this opportunity.
For the first two months of 2001, 44% of the authors of articles in ESA's
four principal journals paid for IFWA. For the March issue of its Journal
of Medical Entomology, 53% of authors paid. ESA is making money and their
authors are being allowed to buy something they want. Will authors in
other society-published journals have to lobby their governing boards
before being offered convenient IFWA at a fair price?
ESA's publications are at
http://www.entsoc.org/pubs/.
I've posted an 800-word commentary on "Market-driven free access to journal
articles" at
http://csssrvr.entnem.ufl.edu/~walker/fewww/tjwonwww.htm.
Tom Walker
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Thomas J. Walker
Department of Entomology & Nematology
PO Box 110620 (or Natural Area Drive)
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-0620
E-mail: tjw_at_ufl.edu FAX: (352)392-0190
Web:
http://csssrvr.entnem.ufl.edu/~walker/tjwbib/walker.htm
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Received on Wed Jan 03 2001 - 19:17:43 GMT