Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11787271
EU Announces That All Scientific Articles Should Be Freely Accessible by 2020
71–80 of 143 posts
Re: EU Announces That All Scientific Articles Should Be Freely Accessible by 2020
#72Doesn't that just have the effect that everyone now has to pay for scientific articles? I mean, as a scientist, this benefits me, but I can see why your average Joe wouldn't be happy to pay taxes so he can read articles he can't understand...
Re: EU Announces That All Scientific Articles Should Be Freely Accessible by 2020
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't that exactly what search engines are for? I.e., ranking work based on a complex mix of both content value and authority?
Yes, improvements in search will help, but the costs won't go down that easily. In Google's case, the initial seeding of page rank was quite manual. And then think of the cost of upkeep - people are trying to game search engines continuously, Google has to update its algorithms on a consistent basis, content farms have profited enormously at various points of time and needed to be literally programmed against, and fi…
What is the paper you mentioned in the reply below? (Can't reply to that one)
Re: EU Announces That All Scientific Articles Should Be Freely Accessible by 2020
#74Doesn't that just have the effect that everyone now has to pay for scientific articles? I mean, as a scientist, this benefits me, but I can see why your average Joe wouldn't be happy to pay taxes so he can read articles he can't understand...
That's a little elitist of you. There are lots of people outside academia who can understand and benefit from academic publications.
Consider, for example, somebody thinking of creating a startup doing research on what the bleeding edge of a field is. Or a former student considering re-entering academic research checking up on how the field has progressed since they left it. Or simply an independent researcher trying to understand if what they've created is novel and publishable.
Re: EU Announces That All Scientific Articles Should Be Freely Accessible by 2020
#75Does this include data sets used for publication? If so, is there a specified format for publishing data sets?
Re: EU Announces That All Scientific Articles Should Be Freely Accessible by 2020
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, improvements in search will help, but the costs won't go down that easily. In Google's case, the initial seeding of page rank was quite manual. And then think of the cost of upkeep - people are trying to game search engines continuously, Google has to update its algorithms on a consistent basis, content farms have profited enormously at various points of time and needed to be literally programmed against, and fi…
What is the paper you mentioned in the reply below? (Can't reply to that one)
I thought about adding it in my original comment, but I want to keep my account as anonymous as reasonably possible. Sorry about that!
Re: EU Announces That All Scientific Articles Should Be Freely Accessible by 2020
#77Notice the would Should in this headliner.
Re: EU Announces That All Scientific Articles Should Be Freely Accessible by 2020
#78Hmm the word Should is an indicator of where this is going
Re: EU Announces That All Scientific Articles Should Be Freely Accessible by 2020
#79Doesn't that just have the effect that everyone now has to pay for scientific articles? I mean, as a scientist, this benefits me, but I can see why your average Joe wouldn't be happy to pay taxes so he can read articles he can't understand...
That's a little elitist of you. There are lots of people outside academia who can understand and benefit from academic publications. Consider, for example, somebody thinking of creating a startup doing research on what the bleeding edge of a field is. Or a former student considering re-entering academic research checking up on how the field has progressed since they left it. Or simply an independent researcher trying…
That's a fair point, but it doesn't invalidate the parent's point. Ultimately, there will be far more laypeople who cannot understand the articles than budding, academically inclined entrepreneurs.
Re: EU Announces That All Scientific Articles Should Be Freely Accessible by 2020
#80Doesn't that just have the effect that everyone now has to pay for scientific articles? I mean, as a scientist, this benefits me, but I can see why your average Joe wouldn't be happy to pay taxes so he can read articles he can't understand...
That's a little elitist of you. There are lots of people outside academia who can understand and benefit from academic publications. Consider, for example, somebody thinking of creating a startup doing research on what the bleeding edge of a field is. Or a former student considering re-entering academic research checking up on how the field has progressed since they left it. Or simply an independent researcher trying…
Not to mention the many average Joes who have already done some important work by reading open access papers in fields simply because they suddenly find causes to became motivated to go past the average Joe level.