Scientists must make research an open book

“Scientific papers are to be available free online to the public in a Government-backed project to open up knowledge at the expense of Britain's academic publishers. In an experiment aimed at making the UK a world leader in technological innovation, the Coalition plans to stop publicly funded research going behind the paywalls of journals. Detailed proposals will be announced tomorrow. Many academics, 11,000 of whom are boycotting the world's biggest publisher, Reed Elsevier, in protest at its fees, support a shake-up of academic publishing. But publishing insiders warn privately that it will hit a growing UK business and allow the rest of the world free access to British research. British publishers produce 20 per cent of the world's academic papers. They include not just Reed Elsevier but the Oxford University Press and institutions such as the Royal Society of Chemistry, which generates three-quarters of its income from its journals. Universities could face estimated bills of £50m a year to meet the costs of editing now borne by publishers, though they may save money in the long run if the price of journals comes down. The Coalition appears determined to revolutionise scientific publishing in a bid to boost creativity and enterprise... Google, the world's main internet search engine, stands to gain from free access to hundreds of thousands of papers... Professor Dame Janet Finch, a professor of sociology at Manchester University, has been heading the panel looking at open access.Her plans are expected to encompass placing all publicly funded research free online immediately, with another option whereby academics receiving public funding would have to ensure papers in traditional journals are placed free online in a year...”