http://anthropology.net/2009/11/15/open-access-learning-to-share/ Beyond bones & stones Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:33:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://anthropology.net/2009/11/15/open-access-learning-to-share/#comment-15229 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:15:37 +0000 http://anthropology.net/?p=2676#comment-15229 I too was quite surprised to see the suggestion that authors pay to publish their own papers, and I totally agree that if prices were lowered to something more sane, many more of us would pay for access. In some cases, it´s possible to pay upwards of 40 bucks, once you add tax, and I for one don´t understand the publishers´need to overcharge to that extent. Imposing such a degree of exclusivity seems counterintuitive, restricting public access as well as coverage and citations for the authors of such papers.

]]> http://anthropology.net/2009/11/15/open-access-learning-to-share/#comment-15222 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:44:11 +0000 http://anthropology.net/?p=2676#comment-15222 I love the idea of free access, though NOT the idea that the author should pay for it, that’s ridiculous. However, I am also open to the pay-per-view system, so long as the fee is reasonable. And in almost all cases it is not only unreasonable but also counter-productive. If a journal typically charged 1 to 5 dollars per article, rather than $30, which appears to be the norm, they’d see a huge increase in sales volume, no question. And since cost of disseminating 1,000 copies online would be no greater than that for 10 or 20, it’s a no-brainer. Old habits die hard, but if the publishers were to wake up and remember that they are no longer in the business (or shouldn’t be) of disseminating expensive hard copies that cost so much per copy, but extremely inexpensive virtual copies that cost literally nothing after the initial costs are covered, they’d realize they could do a lot better charging $1 than $30.

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