Kevin is perhaps right that many publishers give free access to poorer
countries so as to lure at least some of them into buying the journal
after a few years. However, not all are like this. I am surely not the
only person who makes his or her living through publishing journals and
gives free access through the PERI scheme because I believe it is the
right thing to do as a decent member of the world community (I do not
know how to express it without sounding pompous!) rather than to start
making money out of them in due course.
Bill Page
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William Page
Beech Tree Publishing
- Science and Public Policy
- Research Evaluation
- Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal
10 Watford Close, Guildford, Surrey GU1 2EP, UK
Telephone +44 1483 824871 Fax +44 1483 567497
Email [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: An informal open list set up by UKSG - Connecting the Information
Community [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kevin
Symonds
Sent: 18 January 2011 15:20
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [lis-e-resources] Loss of access to global health journals
in Bangladesh and beyond
It is worrying for them and in many cases I am sure the provision of
resources for scientific research. But surely it's always been known
that they are really loss leaders or trial runs to get scientists
interested in or reliant on the products. Once the market is established
then they expect their customers to pay for the product they have been
using. And the longer their product is available for free there is a
lesser expectation of having to pay for it later.
Most publishers are not charities or non-profit organisations. It's a
business opportunity to establish themselves in a growing scientific
market for their other full price products. And when there is the money
to pay for something (as there obviously is if they have customers
there) they expect them to follow the same system that we work under. In
that you pay for what you use/access. Publishers could quite rightly say
why should we give it away? Everyone else has to pay for it. I know it's
not at all comparable to those on a real shoestring budget but we all
have problems with funding and we're not being given massive discounts
for our journal subscriptions.
Maybe it's a sign of the overbearing cost of journals in general, not
just in low income countries?
Kevin
lis-e-resources is a UKSG list - http://www.uksg.org/serials UKSG groups
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lis-e-resources is a UKSG list - http://www.uksg.org/serials
UKSG groups also available on Facebook and LinkedIn
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