Publishing and the Scientific Community
Publishing is changing rapidly, as is the management of much of the scientific community world wide. Unfortunately there are features of both that should give considerable cause for alarm if one cares to look forward a few years. Let's begin with the remarkable consolidation of wonership in sci...
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2001
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102001000323 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102001000323 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0954102001000323 2024-03-03T08:39:27+00:00 Publishing and the Scientific Community Walton, David W. H. 2001 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102001000323 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102001000323 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Antarctic Science volume 13, issue 3, page 225-225 ISSN 0954-1020 1365-2079 Geology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Oceanography journal-article 2001 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954102001000323 2024-02-08T08:46:42Z Publishing is changing rapidly, as is the management of much of the scientific community world wide. Unfortunately there are features of both that should give considerable cause for alarm if one cares to look forward a few years. Let's begin with the remarkable consolidation of wonership in scientific publishing culminating in the latest move - the acquisition of Harcourt by Reed Elsevier- which has been investigated by the Competition Commission in the UK as being potentially against the public interest. Those who buy Reed Elsevier journals at present will know that their subscription rates are some of the highest in the world. It is not obvious that scientists will see any benefit from this takeover. Indeed, what will happen to the provision of information to working scientists as library budgets decline everywhere? Is increasingly expensive equipment for experimental use really more important than the literature? Governments will say that the Web will meet scientists needs to which my reply is that much of its content is uncontrolled rubbish and it certainly does not replace the quality controlled material available in the journals. So our first conclusion for the future could be that consolidation of ownership of journals is bad for science and unless, there is a significant change in library funding, many commercial journals are likely to price themselves out of the general market, leaving only those published by learned societies or charities at an affordable level. Bad news. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarctic Science Cambridge University Press Harcourt ENVELOPE(172.417,172.417,-83.817,-83.817) Antarctic Science 13 3 225 225 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
topic |
Geology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Oceanography |
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Geology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Oceanography Walton, David W. H. Publishing and the Scientific Community |
topic_facet |
Geology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Oceanography |
description |
Publishing is changing rapidly, as is the management of much of the scientific community world wide. Unfortunately there are features of both that should give considerable cause for alarm if one cares to look forward a few years. Let's begin with the remarkable consolidation of wonership in scientific publishing culminating in the latest move - the acquisition of Harcourt by Reed Elsevier- which has been investigated by the Competition Commission in the UK as being potentially against the public interest. Those who buy Reed Elsevier journals at present will know that their subscription rates are some of the highest in the world. It is not obvious that scientists will see any benefit from this takeover. Indeed, what will happen to the provision of information to working scientists as library budgets decline everywhere? Is increasingly expensive equipment for experimental use really more important than the literature? Governments will say that the Web will meet scientists needs to which my reply is that much of its content is uncontrolled rubbish and it certainly does not replace the quality controlled material available in the journals. So our first conclusion for the future could be that consolidation of ownership of journals is bad for science and unless, there is a significant change in library funding, many commercial journals are likely to price themselves out of the general market, leaving only those published by learned societies or charities at an affordable level. Bad news. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Walton, David W. H. |
author_facet |
Walton, David W. H. |
author_sort |
Walton, David W. H. |
title |
Publishing and the Scientific Community |
title_short |
Publishing and the Scientific Community |
title_full |
Publishing and the Scientific Community |
title_fullStr |
Publishing and the Scientific Community |
title_full_unstemmed |
Publishing and the Scientific Community |
title_sort |
publishing and the scientific community |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2001 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102001000323 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102001000323 |
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ENVELOPE(172.417,172.417,-83.817,-83.817) |
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Harcourt |
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Harcourt |
genre |
Antarctic Science |
genre_facet |
Antarctic Science |
op_source |
Antarctic Science volume 13, issue 3, page 225-225 ISSN 0954-1020 1365-2079 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954102001000323 |
container_title |
Antarctic Science |
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13 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
225 |
op_container_end_page |
225 |
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1792494994003591168 |