HEALTHJournal free for all: The electronic future of scientific publishingWith subscription costs mounting and the Internet more accessible, some researchers and publishers are asking if the current way is still the best way to get science out into the world.By Victoria Stagg Elliott, amednews staff. April 19, 2004. Last month, Harold Varmus, MD, president of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, needed a specific article from one of the many journals usually held by his institution's library. But the Nobel prize winner and former director of the National Institutes of Health couldn't get his hands on the information he wanted. The library was in the midst of a dispute with the publication, leaving him the option of waiting for the disagreement to be resolved or punching in his own credit card number. "I'm affiliated with a prestigious institution that has many subscriptions, but I have my frustrations," Dr. Varmus said. "And once you click off our own network, it's impossible." There are signs, though, that his access, and that of others, soon might come with fewer barriers. Medical and scientific publishing is becoming increasingly electronic while subscription costs for many journals have outstripped the rate of inflation. According to the Assn. of Research Libraries, prices for serial publications -- including academic journals, newspapers and magazines -- increased 215% from 1986 to 2001, while the consumer price index went up 62%. "A subscription model may no longer make sense in the Internet environment, and we should look at other ways," said Richard Johnson, director of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, an alliance of universities and research libraries working on pricing issues of medical, technical and scientific journals. [...]Full text of American Medical News content is available to AMA members and paid subscribers.
Copyright 2004 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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