Tom's analysis is a most interesting one but it ignores one
inconvenient fact: that we are not part of a closed community.
Publishers make much of the fact that a high proportion of their
sales are to non-academic institutions. So long as we keep the
current government (and in fairness, perhaps, our government's
thinking does seem to reflect part of a global trend) we seem likely
to be pushed to become ever more commercially aware. if we produce
valuable information are our master (whether at V-C level or higher
up) going to be happy at us passing up the opportunity to make money?
Likewise, although many contributors to "academic journals" are
academics, some, and I imagine this includes people fo considerable
importance in some fields, are not. How are they to be incorporated
in a free information world when their companies will certainly have
a hard-nosed attitude to commerically sensitive and commercially
valuable information.
Personally, I look forward with enthusiasm to the demise of the
journal but I'm not sure I can see it yet. I expect and hope that
free journals will flourish but there may be a niche market for
quality priced products.
IRMM
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