[Taxacom] Paywall our taxonomic tidbit

Thu Jan 14 17:50:55 CST 2016

Hmm, that is quite an arrogant opinion of the public intelligence and interest. Publicly funded research covers an enormous range of topics of which taxonomy is a very small part. Even though perhaps only a very small part of the general public do read taxonomic papers then this still means that they should also get their fair share.

> On 14 Jan 2016, at 23:27, Stephen Thorpe <stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz> wrote:
> 
> You are mistaken! Very much so. If a significant number of "the public" wanted to read the stuff, then yes, but they don't. They don't understand the stuff, and they have no say in what exactly gets funded by their money (grant boards make those decisions). Effectively, under open access they are paying twice for the same research. Think about it ..
> 
> Stephen
> 
> --------------------------------------------
> On Fri, 15/1/16, Lynn Raw <lynn at afriherp.org> wrote:
> 
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Paywall our taxonomic tidbit
> To: "TaxaCom" <Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
> Received: Friday, 15 January, 2016, 12:22 PM
> 
> I agree with Frank.
> Surely if the public is paying for the research then the
> public should have free access to the results, or am I
> mistaken?
> 
> Lynn
> 
> 
>> On 14 Jan 2016, at 22:51, Frank T. Krell
> <Frank.Krell at dmns.org>
> wrote:
>> 
>> 
> Disseminating results is an essential part of the scientific
> endeavor. If public money is intended for research, this
> includes making the results known.
>> 
>> You see evil problems everywhere,
> don't you, Stephen. Even in a $20/page open access
> charge.
>> 
>> Frank
>> 
>> 
>> Dr Frank T. Krell
>> 
> Curator of Entomology 
>> Commissioner,
> International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature
>> Chair, ICZN ZooBank Committee
>> Department of Zoology 
>> Denver Museum of Nature & Science 
>> 2001 Colorado Boulevard 
>> Denver, CO 80205-5798 USA 
>> Frank.Krell at dmns.org
> 
>> Phone: (+1) (303) 370-8244 
>> Fax: (+1) (303) 331-6492 
>> http://www.dmns.org/science/museum-scientists/frank-krell
>> lab page: http://www.dmns.org/krell-lab
>> 
>> -----Original
> Message-----
>> From: Taxacom [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu]
> On Behalf Of Stephen Thorpe
>> Sent:
> Thursday, January 14, 2016 3:02 PM
>> To:
> taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu;
> Peter Uetz <peter at uetz.us>
>> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Paywall our
> taxonomic tidbit
>> 
>> 
> Peter Uetz said: Just make your papers available to
> everybody, not just the few lucky ones
>> 
> 
>> Not sure if he was being sarcastic? I
> hope so. It amounts to "just make your papers available
> to everybody (whether they want to read it or not), not just
> the few who actually want to read it (and pay for it with
> public money intended for research!)"
>> 
>> Stephen
>> 
>> 
>> 
> --------------------------------------------
>> On Fri, 15/1/16, Peter Uetz <peter at uetz.us>
> wrote:
>> 
>> Subject:
> Re: [Taxacom] Paywall our taxonomic tidbit
>> To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
>> Received: Friday, 15 January, 2016, 7:20
> AM
>> 
>> 
>> Yes! — Zootaxa is probably the best deal
> you can get.
>> I paid for an open access
> paper in Zootaxa out of my own  pocket, and this was a
> single author paper.
>> 
>> For teams, some of which may have grant
> money available, it  is a no brainer.
>> 
> Just make your papers available to everybody, not just the 
> few lucky ones.
>> Especially if you
> believe that nothing in biology makes  sense except in the
> light of taxonomy, sorry..., evolution
>> 
> :)
>> 
>> 
>>> ------------------------------
>>> 
>>> Message:
> 9
>>> Date: Thu, 14 Jan 2016 13:58:22
> +1300  > From: "Geoff Read" <gread at actrix.gen.nz> 
>> To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu 
>> Subject: [Taxacom] Paywall our taxonomic tidbit  >
> Message-ID:
>>>      <88e32d0d97f3055d3f25280814fd767f.squirrel at my.actrix.co.nz>
>>> Content-Type:
> text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1  >  > Am I
> unreasonable in expecting minor contributions to  Zootaxa
> to be  > affordable for authors as open access as a
> convenience  for their readers? 
>>> 
> For instance that's USD 20 for each author in
> today's  worst 2 page case!
>>> 
> Hopefully they earn (or did) much more that per hour.
>>> 
>>> http://www.mapress.com/j/zt/article/view/zootaxa.4066.2.5
>>> 
>>> Happens
> quite frequently - what are these contributors  thinking?
> Should we  > perhaps start a fund to help them out?
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Geoffrey B. Read, Ph.D.
>>> Wellington, NEW ZEALAND
>>> gread at actrix.gen.nz
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Peter Uetz, PhD
>> 
> Associate Professor
>> Center for the
> Study of Biological Complexity  Virginia Commonwealth
> University
>> 1015 Floyd Ave
>> PO Box 842030
>> 
> Richmond, VA 23284
>> 
>> Ph: 804-827-4573
>> 
>> http://csbc.vcu.edu/people/
>> http://www.vcu.edu/csbc/uetz/uetz2.html
>> 
>> 
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> Celebrating 29 years of
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