Book People Archive

Publish Free or Perish -- From Scientific American



  Hi everyone,

  The following artice from Scientific American via Wired News may be of 
interest.

  The entire piece can be read at 
http://www.scientificamerican.com/explorations/2001/042301publish/
Publish Free or Perish
Life scientists are urging publishers to grant free access to archived 
research articles
When a molecular biologist or a biochemist has made a discovery-often 
after many months or even years of tedious experiments-they tell the 
rest of the world by publishing their results in a scientific journal. 
So far, these journals have controlled who can read them and who 
cannot-but maybe not for much longer.

E-mail, Internet discussion groups, electronic databases and pre- or 
e-print servers have already transformed the way scientists openly 
exchange their results. And in the life sciences, researchers are now 
demanding that their work be included in at least one free central 
electronic archive of published literature, challenging the traditional 
ownership of publishers. The demand has sparked widespread discussions 
among scientists, publishers, scientific societies and librarians about 
the future of scientific publishing. The outcome may be nothing short of 
a revolution in the scientific publishing world...

Read the whole article at: 
http://www.scientificamerican.com/explorations/2001/042301publish/