[clug] [OT] Open Source model needed for Academic Publishing?

[Amit Saha]

On 31/08/11 22:24, Carlo Hamalainen wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 6:06 PM, steve jenkin<sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au>  wrote:
>> "Academic publishers make Murdoch look like a socialist":
>>   [Academic publishers charge vast fees to access research paid for by
>> us. Down with the knowledge monopoly racketeers.]
>
> This sort of thing really irks me.
>
> http://carlo-hamalainen.net/blog/2009/05/11/open-access/
>
> quoting Springer when I got a paper published in one of their journals:
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Authors opting for Open Access in the Springer Open Choice program,
> agree to pay the article processing fee. The standard fee is US$3000.
> Customers in the Americas will be charged in US dollars, and customers
> in Europe, Asia, and Africa will be charged the equivalent fee in Euros.
> VAT and other applicable taxes are not included in the standard fee of
> US$3000, and will be added according to the requirements of the country
> where the order is placed.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> So they want *me* to pay $3000 to have my paper available to the
> public, when it was written with funding from the Australian
> Government (an APA scholarship)? Ridiculous.

:-) IMHO, that pretty much sums up the whole scenario. Why would *I* pay 
for publishing my article which I have already spent a significant 
amount of effort on, and _somebody_ is definitely paying my bills? It 
will take a lot of money in my banks to get into that kind of 
philanthropic state of mind. Yes, I definitely want my article to reach 
the widest possible audience, but why would I pay such exorbitant amount 
for it?  If I could have my way, I would write up all the research 
results I produce on my blog, but then they won't give me my Ph.D :) 
That would be open access without paying anyone. But that is far from 
being the state of the Iron walled academic fraternity..

On another note, publishers these days are slowly but surely going to a 
state where they are forsaking the Quality for Quantity and hence 
revenue. I think it makes a lot of business sense for them. I think it 
is co-evolution in a very bad way:

Students/researchers want to get their research published and publishers 
have a huge pool to earn money from. All for a relatively small effort 
of their own.

My 0.2$ rants.

-Amit