Non-profit publishers oppose govt. mandates for scientific publishing
The Washington DC Principles for Free Access to Science Coalition, a coalition of 75 non-profit publishers, has stated its opposition to any legislation that would abruptly end the existing publishing system. One such measure, the Federal Research Public Access Act, introduced in the 109th Congress, would have required all federally funded research to be deposited in an accessible database within six months of acceptance in a scientific journal. Some open access advocates are pressing for the introduction of a similar measure in the 110th Congress.
According to members of the Coalition, such legislation would impose government-mandated access policies and establish government-controlled repositories for federally funded research published in scientific journals. The Coalition also reaffirmed its ongoing practice of making millions of scientific journal articles available free of charge, without an additional financial burden on the scientific community or on funding agencies. More than 1.6 million free articles are already available to the public free of charge on HighWire Press.
In addition, the Coalition expressed concern that a mandatory timetable for free access to all federally funded research could harm journals, scientists and, ultimately, the public. Subscriptions to journals with a high percentage of federally funded research would decline rapidly. Subscription revenues support the quality control system known as peer review and also support the educational work of scientific societies that publish journals. It noted that undermining subscriptions would shift the cost of publication from the publisher who receives subscription revenue to the researcher who receives grants.
Read the original press release.
Knowledgespeak, 22 Feb 2007
http://www.knowledgespeak.com/newsArchieveviewdtl.asp?pickUpID=3625&pickUpBatch=579#3625
