[WikiEN-l] Public Library of Science

Ray Saintonge wrote: This is unrelated to the current thread, but I was at a meeting at the Public Library of Science the other day and promised them that I would make an effort to bring their work to the attention of the wider Wikipedia community. http://www.plos.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Library_of_Science All content of the peer-reviewed Plos journals (including PLoS Biology, PLoS Medicine, PLoS Genetics, etc.) is released under "by-attribution" (Creative Commons). Open access to scientific publications is crucial, and I think we should be aware and supportive of their efforts. Scientific publishing, and academic publishing more generally, is due for a revolution... Journals charge extremely high prices, and the contributors are paid nothing... this is a core vulnerability. The contributors contribute because there is prestige in having a paper accepted... if PLoS (and similar efforts) are creating freely licensed alternative business models, then the old business model is doomed. Barbara Cohen, the executive editor of PLoS, and senior editor of PLoS Medicine, showed me this page: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/mcb/015/2004/00000025/F0020008/art000… Take a couple of minutes to look at it, and enjoy the sad irony... an academic paper in a traditional journal on the topic of "Impediments to promoting access to global knowledge in sub-Saharan Africa" costs $25 to access! When you see that, then you understand the importance of the work of PLoS. -- ####################################################################### # Office: 1-727-231-0101 | Free Culture and Free Knowledge # # http://www.wikipedia.org | Building a free world # #######################################################################