15
submitted 11 months ago by sik0fewl@kbin.social to c/science@kbin.social

The rising costs university libraries are paying to access journals have implications far beyond the ivory tower. From new cancer treatments to debates about foreign policy, new information enters the public domain through academic studies. Now libraries are having trouble affording the subscriptions.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] GlowHuddy@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

No wonder something like SciHub exists.

[-] sik0fewl@kbin.social 2 points 11 months ago

Ya, but it really seems like there ought to be a nonprofit organization that will peer review and publish articles.

[-] conciselyverbose@kbin.social 11 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

It should be an unconditional requirement that the day your university receives a penny of public funding your papers must be public domain.

The issue isn't that no free options exist. It's that using them doesn't get you the reputation needed to be funded.

[-] Sinnerman@kbin.social 2 points 11 months ago

It should be an unconditional requirement that the day your university receives a penny of public funding your papers must be public domain.

Some grants do have this requirement. So publishers just charge you extra to make your article "open source".

Truly, academic publishers are vile people who make the world a worse place.

[-] conciselyverbose@kbin.social 2 points 11 months ago

Because it's some. It's not a universal requirement.

You obviously can't just take away IP rights for academic research, but you can make all federal funding conditional on literally every academic paper written by any employee of the university being public domain. Schools can preserve their ownership by completely funding themselves, or they can recognize that most of them couldn't exist without massive federal funding and that they're not entitled to privatize the proceeds of that investment. The journals would have no capability to abuse their position because there would be no content left eligible for them to prey on.

[-] GlowHuddy@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

Agree completely. Tbh I was very surprised that YOU need to pay to get published. I think it should be the other way around, as publishers should care about publishing the most quality content possible and not reaping researchers off just because they are considered 'prestigious'.

SciHub is nice (and unsurprising in this ecosystem), but there should be a legal/not copyright infringing way to provide access to scientific papers.

this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2023
15 points (100.0% liked)

Science

18 readers
2 users here now

This magazine is dedicated to discussions on scientific discoveries, research, and theories across various fields, including physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, and more. Whether you are a scientist, a science enthusiast, or simply curious about the world around us, this is the place for you. Here you can share your knowledge, ask questions, and engage in discussions on a wide range of scientific topics. From the latest breakthroughs to historical discoveries and ongoing research, this category covers a wide range of topics related to science.

founded 1 year ago