Journal publishers lock horns with free-information movement.

Lots of copyright stuff tonight.. but that's what I'm finding at Slashdot right now...

news @ nature.com - PR's 'pit bull' takes on open access - Journal publishers lock horns with free-information movement.

Now we have Journal Publishers trying to maintain a old distribution process just to protect their market share and profit.

What does publishing and selling a magazine have to do with scientific research? Nothing, it happened that in the 20th century that was the best way to review and distribute scientific information. There is absolutely no reason to say that it MUST continue that way.

Society used to distribute milk through a "milkman" delivery method. The milkman was a middle man who added value AT THE TIME due to people not have refrigeration or lack of preservatives in milk. However, times changed and the "milkman" industry all but vanished.

Maybe the time of the "Scientific Journal" is similarly coming to an end. Science will continue, just as milk consumption has continued...


My Favorite Quote:

...it doesn't matter if they can discredit your statements [i.e. if they are not true], she added: "Media messaging is not the same as intellectual debate".

I'll say...