Re: Scientific Literature

["David Marjanovic" <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

Most interesting, of course, is
http://www.publiclibraryofscience.org/plosFAQ.htm, which includes the
following:

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How will journals make a living if they give away their papers for free?

In the same way that a midwife can earn a living without keeping the babies
that she delivers. We believe that the publishers of scientific journals
should be fairly compensated for the important service they provide in the
scientific publishing process. We believe that granting journals a six month
"lease" on the primary research reports they publish in their pages gives
them a simple way to maintain their revenues with little change in their
business practices. During this time, they would charge subscription fees
for print editions and for electronic access to the articles on the
journals' websites, just as they do now. It is unlikely that many
subscriptions would be cancelled simply because material would be available
free of charge six month later, and journals make relatively little money
selling access to their archived.. Few scientists who currently subscribe to
journals would want to wait six months to read about the latest results in
their field. Indeed, many journals have already recognized that they have
little to lose by providing free access to archival material, and have
voluntarily opened their archives up to the public.

The Public Library of Science plans to establish a financially sustainable
model for non-profit publication of scientific research articles without
ever charging for, or restricting access or use of the published work. We
intend for our publishing initiative to provide a model that non-profit
scientific societies can follow.
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Like it or not (and I like it), this is the future IMHO.