PHA-Exchange> The Public Library of Science: Open Access to Scientific Research

[George(s) Lessard]

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent:      	Thu, 07 Aug 2003 22:17:48 -0500
From:           	Paul Nielson <p.nielson at shaw.ca>
To:             	govinfo <govinfo at yorku.ca>, eco-man at io.UWinnipeg.ca
Copies to:      	INROADS-L at post.queensu.ca, cpi-ua at vcn.bc.ca
Send reply to:  	cpi-ua at vancouvercommunity.net
Subject:        	[CPI-UA] Open Access to Scientific Research


Here is the best source of public domain health information: 
http://medlineplus.gov/

It's not just health information.

It's also environment information and democratic accountability and 
particpation information.
[Excerpt]
New York Times Editorial August 7, 2003
A number of influential scientists have begun to argue that the cost 
of research publications has grown so large that it impedes the 
distribution of knowledge. Some subscriptions cost thousands of 
dollars per year, and those journals are usually available online 
only to subscribers. This looks less like dissemination than 
restriction, especially if it is measured against the potential 
access offered by the Internet. That is why a coalition led by Dr. 
Harold Varmus, the former director of the National Institutes of 
Health, is creating a new model, called the Public Library of 
Science.
Several years ago Dr. Varmus's group issued an open letter, signed by 
some 30,000 colleagues, calling on the publishers of scientific 
journals to make their archived research articles freely available 
online. Most journals declined, so they would not undercut the 
profitable business of selling expensive subscriptions to libraries. 
But there is a basic inequity when much of the research has been 
financed by public money.
The Public Library of Science plans to confront that inequity by 
establishing a new series of peer-reviewed journals that will be 
freely available on the Internet. The first ones, published this 
October, will be PLoS Biology and PLoS Medicine. The aim is to create 
a freer flow of data about research and results. The journals will 
pay for themselves by charging a small fee to the organizations and 
institutions that support the research. 
Most of us, admittedly, will not have much use for free access to new 
discoveries in, say, particle physics. But it is a different matter 
when it comes to medical research. Popular nostrums abound on the 
Web, but it can be very hard, if not impossible, to find the results 
of properly vetted, taxpayer-financed science — and in some cases it 
can be hard for your doctor to find them, too. The Public Library of 
Science could help change all that, creating open access to research. 
The publishers of scientific journals are naturally skeptical, but 
the real test will come in the marketplace of ideas. What will matter 
this fall, when the new journals make their debut, is how many 
scientists choose to publish in them rather than in the journals 
traditionally deemed the most prestigious in their disciplines. 

             Copyright 2003The New York Times Company 
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