Letter from Mike Rossner, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Rockefeller University Press to New York State Assemblymember Andrew Hevesi and Senator Carl Marcellino

Use the link to access the full text letter from Mike Rossner, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Rockefeller University Press to New York State Assemblymember Andrew Hevesi and Senator Carl Marcellino. The letter opens as follows: “I am writing to take issue with a letter that was sent to you on May 29, 2012, by Thomas Allen, President and CEO of the Association of American Publishers (AAP), regarding A9162/S7046. The Rockefeller University Press (located in New York State Senate District 26 and Assembly District 73) is a member of the AAP, but Mr. Allen does not represent our views regarding public access to scholarly research. We strongly support efforts by the New York State government to provide public access to research publications resulting from State funding, and it would be a source of pride to us as New York residents if our state were the first to institute this type of legislation. In his letter, Mr. Allen states that, ‘This legislation…would undermine the economic viability of independent U.S. journal publishers…through direct government competition.’ However, he provides no data to back up this claim. To the contrary, we and other non-commercial publishers of biomedical research journals have shown that public access to journal content six months after publication is compatible with continued subscription sales. At The Rockefeller University Press, we have provided this form of public access since January, 2001, and our subscription revenues have grown since then. We have done so because we understand that the public has funded much of the research we publish and that a significant proportion of our subscription revenue is obtained from publicly funded institutions. We thus feel an obligation to give something back to the public...”