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Should All Research Papers Be Free?

nytimes.com

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Re: Should All Research Papers Be Free?

#21

Post by mirimir »

stegosaurus wrote: post #7

All everything 'should' be free. At least, that which is not scarce. The correct question to ask is 'can' all research papers be free - does the world continue to spin, will research still happen, will we still progress, if they are free? The only reason we even have this debate to begin with is because the producers of this information require scarce/controlled resources in order to survive.

This is so not true. Closed-access journals do not pay authors. There's no advance. There are no royalties. At best, they don't charge authors for publishing their work. They don't pay reviewers, and typically not even editors. Maybe they do pay for editing. But that is minuscule cost, relative to $30 per copy.

What happened here is that jerks hijacked the academic publishing industry. They turned a system that was largely pro bono publico into an intellectual pyramid scam. Academia has been slow to respond, mired in the web of prestigious citation. But maybe this is the end game.

Re: Should All Research Papers Be Free?

#23

Post by east2west »

pen2l wrote: post #15
imglorp wrote: post #2

Some things, like dissemination of knowledge, are truly in the interest of all humanity. It seems criminal that a few hundred people at the publishing houses should benefit at the expense of billions' welfare.

I agree with you that knowledge should be accessible to all. But, do realize that there most certainly is value being contributed by journals who are making you pay. For example, the editorial work, the typesetting, the selection, the whole system, etc. So they do need a paycheck from somewhere. So, I think this is actually like the common software/music/movies piracy situation... but a lot better! My (simplified) fe…

Journals do minimal typesetting, and practically no editorial work. Paper reviews are done by academics, free. Editors are mostly academics, not depending a paycheck from publishers. There is cost, like marketing cost, but none that justifies $35 per article to the general public.

Re: Should All Research Papers Be Free?

#24

Post by ikeboy »

rfrey wrote: post #10
arek_ wrote: post #8

Who will produce meaningful research for free?

The people who conduct the research, and the people who fund the research, are not collecting the fees to view the research.

The open access journals charge thousands. Journal publishing has costs, and they need to be born by someone. If not from access fees, they'll need to be paid upfront, which means each study costs more, which means either less studying gets done, or funds come from elsewhere to fund it.

Re: Should All Research Papers Be Free?

#25

Post by ycmbntrthrwaway »

stegosaurus wrote: post #7

All everything 'should' be free. At least, that which is not scarce. The correct question to ask is 'can' all research papers be free - does the world continue to spin, will research still happen, will we still progress, if they are free? The only reason we even have this debate to begin with is because the producers of this information require scarce/controlled resources in order to survive.

Producers are funded by grants or private research funding. They get no money that are paid for access to articles, that is why they publish preprints for free.

Re: Should All Research Papers Be Free?

#26

Post by east2west »

ikeboy wrote: post #20
payne92 wrote: post #5

I feel especially strongly that papers that result from taxpayer-funded research should be free.

Are you, as a taxpayer, willing to pay (your share of) the extra $1000 or so per paper that it would take?

Given academic salary and researcher publication rate, I am confident that it is far less than $1000 you pulled out of air. How much did your tax go up when NIH mandated free publication, after a 2-years period?

Re: Should All Research Papers Be Free?

#27

Post by matwood »

ikeboy wrote: post #20
payne92 wrote: post #5

I feel especially strongly that papers that result from taxpayer-funded research should be free.

Are you, as a taxpayer, willing to pay (your share of) the extra $1000 or so per paper that it would take?

$1000 for what? The research and paper writing was already funded by the tax payer. Peer review is done for free by other researchers today. Journals provide very little value for the money they extort for paper access.

Re: Should All Research Papers Be Free?

#28

Post by mirimir »

KKKKkkkk1 wrote: post #19
imglorp wrote: post #2

Some things, like dissemination of knowledge, are truly in the interest of all humanity. It seems criminal that a few hundred people at the publishing houses should benefit at the expense of billions' welfare.

While it is the scientists who are writing the papers and editing them, the journals provide a valuable service as intermediaries between the scientists. Whether this service is best provided "for free" or for profit is another question. In some fields, the leading journals are already published by not-for-profit organizations such as the ACM, but I am not sure that they are doing a better job than Springer or Elsevi…

Does ACM sell individual papers? If so, what's the price?

Re: Should All Research Papers Be Free?

#29

Post by ycmbntrthrwaway »

zanny wrote: post #14
savanaly wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not exactly post-scarcity, it's just zero marginal cost. It's true that, given the product has already been created and has zero marginal cost, it "should" be free. But for setting the expectations that producers of future products have about what compensation they'll receive we can't simply say it should be free.

The marginal units absolutely can be free, just pay for the research itself. Fixed cost for fixed work.

That is how private research is funded, say at Microsoft Research. You agree on "deliverables" and get your money for each stage of your work. Deliverables include tech reports, source code, prototypes and things like that. You get nothing after your stop working on the project. For producers, i.e. researchers, this scheme is not worse than grants and getting money for published articles, citations etc., they don't get money for years after the publication anyway.

Re: Should All Research Papers Be Free?

#30

Post by return0 »

ikeboy wrote: post #20
payne92 wrote: post #5

I feel especially strongly that papers that result from taxpayer-funded research should be free.

Are you, as a taxpayer, willing to pay (your share of) the extra $1000 or so per paper that it would take?

Universities already pay comparable subscription fees
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