[Taxacom] ZooBank reality check [ Scanned for viruses ]

[Richard Jensen]

Paul Kirk wrote"

"The primary systematic literature must be made available free to the end user."

OK, then who pays for the costs of publication and distribuition?  Who pays for the costs of creating web versions (pdf or html) and maintaining the servers?  Most professional societies that publish journals cannot afford to make these publications "free to the end user."  Perhaps Paul supports the proposed "open access" models in which the author pays fees ($2500 per article in one case) to cover these costs.  If that's the model, I will have to stop publishing in referreed journals, as will most of us.  

I agree that we need easy access, and people who refuse to make their publications available in some easily transportable electronic format are obstructionists.  But it's not as easy as simply declaring that this information should be free and that all should have open access.

The models being used by many societies are to have "subscriber only" access for a given period of time after the publication of the journal issue.  In some cases one year, in some cases longer.  Then the publication can be viewed "free" through JSTOR or other sites - assuming you either have a personal subscription to JSTOR or access to a library that subscribes (there are those pesky costs again).

Dick J 

Richard Jensen, Professor
Department of Biology
Saint Mary’s College
Notre Dame, IN 46556
Tel: 574-284-4674



Paul Kirk wrote:
> Google is free to use ... and is highly valued by users; people in ivory
> towers will never understand what goes on outside those towers ... and
> what of those who cannot subscribe due to economic reasons? I would
> never publish anything in a journal with such a policy.
>
> I'm sure we are all aware of wealthy people who buy works of art and
> keep them locked in bank vaults ... for what? The primary systematic
> literature must be made available free to the end user.
>
> Not much experience of things in copyright (have focussed on
> historically important works out of copyright) but a specialist Society
> with a journal can be approached with a request for permission to scan
> up to, for example, the last 10 years. This should protect the income
> stream which for many Societies is their life blood. To their credit,
> the Mycological Society of America (as one of a growing number) has
> agreed to this. Get a few on board and the rest will more than likely
> follow suit for fear of the 'name and shame' list.
>
> Paul
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Bob Mesibov
> Sent: 07 September 2006 10:48
> To: TAXACOM
> Cc: Hallan, Joel (biocat)
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] ZooBank reality check [ Scanned for viruses ]
>
> Re the fungi and ant scanning/distributing projects:
>
> A leading authority in my field, who edits a specialist journal, has
> flatly
> refused to allow the journal to be made available in PDF form. He wrote:
>
> "Not sympathetic with the idea of making the contents (text) available
> free
> to everybody in the world. Over the years I have paid for over half the
> printing and postal costs, and work on the principle that people do not
> value anything that is free. I think that users should shoulder some of
> the
> cost of production, even if only a few actually ever buy parts or
> subscribe
> to the thing by volume."
>
> A second authority also refuses to let his published work be digitised.
> Further, after I had scanned a large number of his illustrations (vital
> in
> this particular group's taxonomy) and formatted them for a taxonomic
> website, I was told by the authority that he didn't want them to be used
> in
> this way. He regards some uses of his work as outright plagiarism and
> wants
> taxonomists and others to go to his original publications.
>
> I'm wondering whether something similar has happened in the ant and
> fungi
> literature digitising, and if so, how these gaps in the digitised
> literature
> are handled by your bibliographic portals.
> ---
> Dr Robert Mesibov
> Honorary Research Associate, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
> and School of Zoology, University of Tasmania
> Home contact: PO Box 101, Penguin, Tasmania, Australia 7316
> (03) 64371195; 61 3 64371195
>
> Tasmanian Multipedes
> http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/zoology/multipedes/mulintro.html
> Spatial data basics for Tasmania
> http://www.utas.edu.au/spatial/locations/index.html
> ---
>
>
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