Who pays the piper...

Este é o título de um artigo da revista The Economist de 12 de Fevereiro onde se coloca a questão da gratuitidade da informação científica. Infelizmente para aceder a este artigo é preciso uma password, há sempre a hipótese de comprar a revista em formato papel, para quem tem acesso on-line pode ler o artigo todo aqui.

The advance of open-access publishing

FOR around a decade, a group of campaigners has been arguing that the public should not have to pay to read the results of the scientific research which it has, through its taxes, financed. Feelings about the issue are particularly high when it comes to government-funded medical research. Patients' rights groups argue vociferously that it is ethically wrong to charge for access to the latest medical discoveries.

Needless to say, most existing publishers of such information, who make a good business out of selling it to what is more or less a captive academic audience, are not too keen on the idea of “open access”—ie, publication free to anyone. But open access seems to be on its way...