Finch report: Shift away from journal subscriptions
abernard102@gmail.com 2012-06-22
Summary:
Use the link to access responses to the report from society and commercial publishers and public and private funders collected in the following blog post: “The UK Government-commissioned Finch Report, which looks at the state of scientific publishing, has called for a shift towards open access publishing which should be underwritten by public money to avoid destroying the well-established and powerful science publishing industry... According to Reuters, Finch reports that a more to open access publishing of scientific research is inevitable and should be supported with government funding – but would take some time as the current publishing model was complex and a major industry relied on journal subscriptions... What are the chances of it becoming a reality? Well, the UK is a major science publishing hub in the world, so if the government funding flows and pilot schemes trialled in the UK are successful, there may be scope to influence the science publishing industry worldwide. But a lot is at stake, not least of which, the fortunes of some of the world’s biggest publishers. My colleagues at the Science Media Centre in London rounded up reaction from academics and scientific publishers in the UK. Here’s a sample of their responses…”