[open-science] Request from SPARC re: journal workarounds

Wed May 7 17:42:06 UTC 2014

A few weeks ago, I was asked if I would be willing to write up a briefing document for SPARC on the following.

'<redacted> provided me with your name as a person who might be able to help SPARC
 with a brief document. Over the last few months of meeting with elected
 officials in Washington, DC, a conversation has emerged between 
policymakers and advocates (namely SPARC) with 
regard to the lengths small business, start-ups, recent graduates, etc. 
have to go to in order to get access to journal articles. Due to the 
extraordinary high cost of subscriptions and per page charges, they hire
 college interns, pay students for access and ask around for .pdf copies of the article. Without the information, they are not able to innovate, grow their businesses, etc. 

We
 have received some requests to get in writing the lengths that these 
companies/individuals go to in order to get information because they 
can't afford to purchase the articles and how it has, in essence, 
created a 'black market for scholarly journals'.  Graham -- does this seem like something you would you be able to do?' 

The peer reviewed version can be found at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sHtCWS-jLIe-UpuHI52Ep6y-_Dq7ysktcN_I52kfh1M/edit

Other than the link above, this is not yet 'open' but thought this may be of interest in the meantime.

Best,

G

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