Scientific Publishing -- Crisis?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: David Lesher <wb8foz () nrk com>
Date: August 5, 2004 3:23:14 PM EDT
To: farber () cis upenn edu (David Farber)
Subject: Scientific Publishing -- Crisis?
Reply-To: wb8foz () nrk com

[Note the parallel between RFC's and $$ ITU/IEEE standards...]



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http://www.economist.com/science/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Story_ID=3061258

Aug 5th 2004
From The Economist print edition

Scientific publishing is having to change rapidly to respond to
growing pressure for free access to published research

In a letter penned in 1676, Isaac Newton famously wrote,
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of
Giants." Although it is debatable whether Newton was being
modest or making a barbed comment towards his correspondent
(a competitor of short stature) the phrase epitomises views of
how science progresses--with the speedy and open publishing of
discoveries so that others may make use of them to push back the
frontiers of human understanding.

For centuries, printed journals destined for university
libraries have been the focus of this publishing activity. The
winds of change, though, are sweeping through these quiet and
dusty corridors. Because of the internet, cost and distance are
no longer barriers to providing the results of research to more
than just a restricted and privileged few. This is leading people
to ask why those results are not, in fact, freely available to all.

.........



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