Free science coming to the web?

TECH CHRONICLES
San Francisco Chronicle
Friday, April 28, 2006

European report calls for 'free science'

The London Guardian reports that a European Commission study is calling for the free dissemination of government-funded science research over the Internet.

To boil down a complex issue, scientists must publish or perish, and their journals are now owned by a few large companies. This has led to complaints that the cost of subscribing to scientific journals, which averages more than $800 a year, is retarding the spread of knowledge. Scientists generally feel obliged to publish in these expensive journals because they confer prestige upon which researchers depend.

Last year, the National Institutes of Health -- arguably the world's largest government sponsor of scientific research -- encouraged researchers who received its support to submit manuscripts to the online PubMed Central database for free release within a year of publication in a paid journal.

Rather than simply complain about the status quo in science publishing, some Bay Area scientists started the Public Library of Science as a scientific alternative press. Along similar lines, Stanford law Professor Lawrence Lessig has begun a Science Commons project.

-- Tom Abate

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