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Guidance to make federally funded research freely available without delay

whitehouse.gov

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Re: Guidance to make federally funded research freely available without delay

#51

Post by spanktheuser »

bglazer wrote: post #23

This is good news. Academic publishers are parasites and anything that reduces their stranglehold on academic knowledge is good. That said, parasites are, if nothing else, resilient. So, there's a few issues that I'm concerned about. First, it's not clear to me that university libraries will be able to drop their subscriptions to these journals based on this decision. The vast majority of research receives some feder…

This certainly would seem to be the next logical move for the prestige journals. However, in the long term I think this decision to provide open access to the research allows new journals to compete on a more even footing, especially with the emergence of publishing and peer review services like Scholastica. Over time, a thoughtfully curated journal with advantages in speed, cost, editorial focus, peer review process, etc. may be able to overcome the journals whose advantage lie primarily in prestige & gate-keeping.

Re: Guidance to make federally funded research freely available without delay

#53

Post by ModernMech »

expensive_news wrote: post #48
bglazer wrote: post #23

This is good news. Academic publishers are parasites and anything that reduces their stranglehold on academic knowledge is good. That said, parasites are, if nothing else, resilient. So, there's a few issues that I'm concerned about. First, it's not clear to me that university libraries will be able to drop their subscriptions to these journals based on this decision. The vast majority of research receives some feder…

Maybe I’m missing something, but if Nature charges that much to publish why does anyone publish in Nature? Why don’t academics just create their own ‘ethically priced’ journal? It’s my understanding that most of Nature’s labor is voluntary and unpaid anyway.

You can create your own ethically priced journal any day of the week, but if no one reads it, no one will publish to it. And if no one publishes to it, no one will read it. Offering cheap or free publishing doesn’t solve this chicken-and-egg problem, unfortunately. Quite the opposite; it signals that the researchers who publish there are only doing so because they can’t afford the publishing fees of larger journals, presumably because their research isn’t interesting or noteworthy enough to attract enough money to do so. Honestly, $10k is a drop in the bucket when grants are in the millions.

Re: Guidance to make federally funded research freely available without delay

#54

Post by atlasunshrugged »

wikitopian wrote: post #15

I've been relying on making stuff up and then linking to paywalled articles to win my internet arguments, so this is a big setback for me.

Maybe try Forbes or Business Insider? The former definitely seems like it is happy with a pay to play model

Re: Guidance to make federally funded research freely available without delay

#55

Post by pdonis »

twblalock wrote: post #47
commandlinefan wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely agree it's a good thing - my libertarian core can't help but wonder if the white house has (or ought to have) the power to unilaterally declare this, though. Would much prefer this had been voted on by congress.

It's policy guidance issued by the executive branch to the Federal agencies, which is well within the President's authority. Of course, that also means that another president could reverse this policy just as easily. If Congress passed a law it would be harder to reverse.

> that also means that another president could reverse this policy just as easily

Which, since the deadline for full implementation is December 2025, is not at all a farfetched possibility.

Re: Guidance to make federally funded research freely available without delay

#56

Post by koheripbal »

Test0129 wrote: post #39

Having done a short stint dealing with this stuff I am glad something is being done. NIST/NSF funded several studies that I was close to that were suddenly owned by a journal who did nothing but provide a place to put it. Public money should always mean public access. Not just for journals, but for anything. If one red cent of taxpayer money goes to it, the taxpayer should get it for free. Hopefully the trend continu…

I assume military R&D would be a big exception?

Re: Guidance to make federally funded research freely available without delay

#57

Post by loeg »

jhallenworld wrote: post #37

Great! How about we reduce the cost of college by eliminating the equally parasitical textbook industry?

As college expenses go, textbooks were less than 1% of my costs attending a public university as a state resident. The industry may be just as parasitic but I don't think it would appreciably help reduce college expenses.

Re: Guidance to make federally funded research freely available without delay

#58

Post by IncRnd »

Animats wrote: post #11

"All agencies will fully implement updated policies, including ending the optional 12-month embargo, no later than December 31, 2025." Why does this need a 3 year transition period? Six months would be plenty.

Many of these things, dates of the start (or end) of laws + rules + EOs, are regularly set with a timeframe years away and right after the next President sits in office. There is a real pattern of this.

Re: Guidance to make federally funded research freely available without delay

#59

Post by fudged71 »

Test0129 wrote: post #39

Having done a short stint dealing with this stuff I am glad something is being done. NIST/NSF funded several studies that I was close to that were suddenly owned by a journal who did nothing but provide a place to put it. Public money should always mean public access. Not just for journals, but for anything. If one red cent of taxpayer money goes to it, the taxpayer should get it for free. Hopefully the trend continu…

Does “public” here refer to nationally-available, or internationally? Should I be able to access your taxpayer’s research?

Re: Guidance to make federally funded research freely available without delay

#60

Post by geysersam »

afarrell wrote: post #41
RosanaAnaDana wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

Not if one of the people who would do that is currently on a boat in Lake Winnipesaukee. Not if {insert 20 other sources of complexity that exist in the real world}.

Simple solution: stop prosecuting SciHub and link to them from official websites. They've already solved this problem.
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