Showing posts with label impeding dissemination of research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label impeding dissemination of research. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Academic publishers make Murdoch look like a socialist; Guardian, 8/29/11

George Monbiot, Guardian; Academic publishers make Murdoch look like a socialist:

"You might resent Murdoch's paywall policy, in which he charges £1 for 24 hours of access to the Times and Sunday Times. But at least in that period you can read and download as many articles as you like. Reading a single article published by one of Elsevier's journals will cost you $31.50. Springer charges €34.95, Wiley-Blackwell, $42. Read 10 and you pay 10 times. And the journals retain perpetual copyright. You want to read a letter printed in 1981? That'll be $31.50.

Of course, you could go into the library (if it still exists). But they too have been hit by cosmic fees. The average cost of an annual subscription to a chemistry journal is $3,792."