trends in parasitology; Thousands of scientists have announced a boycott of private companies, which oppose the wide distribution of research findings without payment
James Meek, Guardian
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Illustration: David Polonsky
Scientists around the world are revolting against the measures of private companies trying
To block information accumulated in decades of research by transferring it to databases
Expensive electronic, open to subscribers only. At stake is control
About scientific studies - millions of pages of information that may help in finding a cure
For the AIDS disease, solutions for discounting travel
In space or ways to decipher the human mind.
More than 21 thousand researchers in 161 countries joined the boycott of publishers of
Scientific journals that refuse to make research papers available
online six months after their publication. "Science depends on the existence of knowledge
and technology in the public sphere", claims Michael Ashbrenner, professor
for biology at the University of Cambridge and one of the leaders of the protest campaign;
"In this sense, science belongs to the people, and its fruits must not be owned by
publishers, or will be transferred by them for huge profits. on fruit
The research - which is overwhelmingly funded by public funds - will be available as a guest
Extensive and economical as possible".
In the last decade, anger has increased in research libraries in Europe and the United States
In view of the large increase in the price of subscriptions to scientific journals, the documents
In fact the scientific human knowledge. The possibility of free retrieval of information
And data from the Internet only increases the frustration of the scientists. Profitable
The largest publisher of scientific journals, the "Reed" company
Elsevier", had 352 million dollars last year, out of a turnover of 970
million dollar. In fact, the publishers profit twice from the public money:
Once when scientists whose work is funded by taxpayers' money submit
The same for free periodicals, and secondly when libraries are financed with money
The citizens buy the information back from them in the form of subscriptions.
The British government is so concerned about the power of "Reid Elsevier" that it blocked it
its takeover, worth 4.48 billion dollars, of a major publisher
Another of the periodicals, "Harcourt".
Derek Hank, head of Elsevier Science, named the group of scientists
Those calling for a boycott are naive idealists. "Everyone would like everything
It will be available, all the time, and preferably free of charge," he said. "It is a universal human characteristic,
But I'm not sure this business model is realistic. I'm ashamed
Because of poor service delivery, not because of my desire to make profits. financial
The public does finance the research, but not the costs of its publication. If
The authorities would finance the publication, I would provide it for free."
Most copies of the 1,100 "Reed Elsevier" journals are impossible
find at the newsagents. For these periodicals, bearing names like
"Thin-Walled Structures", "Urban Water", "Journal of Fluids
Super critical" and "trends in parasitology", there is no attraction of "God".
The annual subscription price on them would have caused publishers with mass circulation
be jealous. Thus, an annual subscription to "alcohol" that sees the light of day nine times a year increases
About 140 dollars per sheet. The journal "Brain Research" costs more than 12 thousand
dollar per year while the price of the "Veterinary Medicine" journal
Preventative has increased by more than 300% compared to its price a decade ago, and it is
A thousand dollars a year.
Out of scope for the developing world
According to Elsevier, the number of submitted articles increases every year and expenses
The company is rising. Each article must be reviewed by peer scientists, to
Make sure it is publishable. Price increases forced libraries to cut back
in subscriptions, which lowered Elsevier's revenue and forced it to raise the
The prices are even higher. Trying to break out of this vicious cycle, Hank said,
The company is trying to convince universities to sign archive versions
Electronicization of its journals. The company has already received 1,500 jobs
Humans to transfer all of its journal archives - including issues
From the 19th century medical journal "Lancet" for databases
computerized. However, the price of the electronic database subscription will be affected
from the ever-increasing price of paper journals. "Our plan is
Make everything available in an academic or professional environment from day one
And not within six months," Hank added, "but someone has to pay for it
It".
The status of scientists and their promotion depend on publication in recognized journals.
The scientists who write the articles, their peer reviewers and their editors
are not paid. Publishers spend money on printing and a small team
of two people usually, engaged full-time in marketing and distribution.
As long as the skirmish over the price of journals continued between the libraries and the publishers
The scientists stood aside. The advent of the Internet changed everything: many search engines
Power that scans computerized databases allows scientists to discover
Ground-breaking connections between different research results, which otherwise would not have existed
It takes years to find them in the index jungle. The risk that a miraculous means
It will be under the control of private companies led the scientists to action.
"The big commercial publishers have reason to feel threatened," said the professor
Ashburner. "They charge very high prices and make sure to transfer
the rights to them. We do not get paid for advertising. There is no reason
that we hand over our copyrights to a commercial publisher, after we have done the
the scientific work and the writing work. The prices charged by the publishers
So high, that even in the rich countries it is not always possible to buy back
the information. For the developing world, these journals are completely
out of bounds".
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