Paying to free science: Costs of publication as costs of research

Serials Review

Volumn 31, Issue 2, 2005, Pages 103-106

  Gass, Andy ^a  

^a Public Library of Science ^*  (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 20944447143     PISSN: 00987913     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.serrev.2005.03.008     Document Type: Article

References (13)

1. Robert Terry, "Funding the Way to Open Access," PLoS Biology 3, no. 3, March 2005. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0030097 [not yet online at the time of this writing].
2. Wellcome Trust, "Annual Report and Financial Statements 2004," p. 5; see http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/assets/wtd015233.pdf (accessed March 8, 2005).
3. "Report of the CUL Task Force on Open Access Publishing Presented to the Cornell University Library Management Team August 9, 2004" see http://www.dspace.library.cornell.edu/handle/1813/193 (accessed March 8, 2005).
4. Andrew Albanese, "Cornell: Open Access Costly," Library Journal Newswire, February 1, 2005; see http://www.libraryjournal.com/ article/CA498857?display=NewsNews&industry=News&industryid =1986andverticalid=151 (accessed March 8, 2005).
5. It may be the case that concerns similar to the ones described here were what led the Cornell University Library Library Management Team to append the following "Clarification" to the front page of the report on October 7, 2004: "This Report of the Cornell University Library's Task Force on Open Access represents the Task Force's initial examination into the Open Access publishing model and its impact on the Library. On October 7, 2004 the Library Management Team reviewed the report and requested additional analysis, particularly with regard to the underlying economic model from an institutional, rather than library, perspective and more consideration of projected costs and benefits, especially when considered from a multi-institutional or consortial point of view."
6. Andy Gass Helen Doyle "The Reality of Open-Access Journal Articles" Chronicle of Higher Education Review February 18, 2005 B13
7. "Questions and Answers: NIH Public Access Policy," Question 16; see http://www.nih.gov/about/publicaccess/publicaccess_QandA.pdf (accessed February 22, 2005).
8. There seems to be some dispute over precisely what fraction of the total annual published STM, or life sciences, or biomedical research articles is represented by the 60-65,000 funded by NIH. Estimates have ranged in some quarters as low as 10%, in others over 50%. For the purposes of this discussion, an exact figure is unimportant; the point is simply that NIH funds the publication of articles its grantees produce, as do many other granting agencies.
9. See http://www.grants.nih.gov/grants/award/research/RGAVG9803.htm (accessed March 8, 2005); $13.7 billion figure calculated as follows: number of research project grants times average grant size.
10. See for example, "Why PLoS Became a Publisher," Varmus et al., PLoS Biology 1, no. 1, October 2003;
11. "Whose Copy? Whose Rights?" Gass et al., PLoS Biology 2, no. 7, July 2004;
12. "A Medical Journal for the Internet Age," Varmus et al., PLoS Medicine 1, no. 1, October 2004;
13. "The Green and Gold Roads to Open Access," Harnad and Brody, Nature Web Focus: Access to the Literature, May 17, 2004.