tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3467242881996852098.post1033483930349521393..comments2024-01-08T08:39:39.026-08:00Comments on The Open Source Paleontologist: Buying PDFs: Truth and ConsequencesAndyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16171447306687358664noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3467242881996852098.post-17727923207314309592009-11-05T12:53:07.167-08:002009-11-05T12:53:07.167-08:00Part 2
The big issue then becomes findability. Ho...Part 2<br /><br />The big issue then becomes findability. How do you locate whether an open access version of article exists without some sort of insider knowledge? E.G., I know this author is at such and such university and that institution provides a repository for authors' works. Or the article is likely to be in a subject repository. <br /><br />One solution I've found is OCLC WorldCat (the folks who provide the metadata behind many library catalogs and interlibrary loan systems). <br /><br /><a href="http://worldcat.org/" rel="nofollow">http://worldcat.org/</a><br /><br />They recently acquired a service called OAIster, which indexes open access papers deposited in subject repositories and institutional repositories. The "OAI" part of the name stands for "Open Archives Initiative" which is a discovery layer that most of these repositories have built-in. <br /><br />In addition, WorldCat's database provides an article search layer. This is not a comprehensive article database, by any means. But articles from many important publishers are there, so it makes a nice starting point. <br /><br />The upshot is that by using WorldCat, you can search for a journal article title and, if an open access version of it exists in a repository, then chances are you will easily be able to find and obtain a copy. For free. If the published version of the article is also indexed, you can find that as well.<br /><br />For example, if I was looking for the article "Specimens of the billfish Xiphiorhynchus van Beneden, 1871, from the Yazoo Clay Formation (late Eocene), Louisiana" by Harry Fierstine and Gary Stringer, <br /><br /><a href="http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Specimens+of+the+billfish+Xiphiorhynchus+van+Beneden%2C+1871" rel="nofollow">http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Specimens+of+the+billfish+Xiphiorhynchus+van+Beneden%2C+1871</a><br /><br />WorldCat directs me to the published version in Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology <br /><br /><a href="http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27%5B226%3ASOTBXV%5D2.0.CO%3B2" rel="nofollow">http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27%5B226%3ASOTBXV%5D2.0.CO%3B2</a><br /><br />However, access to this copy of the article may require a subscription -- either through a personal membership or through a library subscription. <br /><br />But in addition, WorldCat also finds two open access versions of the paper in repositories:<br /><br />One copy was deposited in the Kennedy Library institutional repository at CalPoly<br /><br /><a href="http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/bio_fac/63" rel="nofollow">http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/bio_fac/63</a><br /><br />and another copy that the one of the authors self-archived using a free service called BePress Selected Works<br /><br /><a href="http://works.bepress.com/hfiersti/26/" rel="nofollow">http://works.bepress.com/hfiersti/26/</a><br /><br />It was the decision of the authors to negotiate with the publisher to retain rights to self-archive a copy of their paper that made access to this article free. Not just haphazardly on a personal website, but in a place where it is most likely to be found using services like WorldCat (or, in a less structured way, through Google Scholar).Tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00440985064601933566noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3467242881996852098.post-71352422838639807732009-11-05T12:52:32.408-08:002009-11-05T12:52:32.408-08:00[Doing this in two parts since posts are size-limi...[Doing this in two parts since posts are size-limited]<br /><br />While it is lovely to be able to get a PDF of an article directly from the journal itself, for commercial publishers this requires either a library subscription or the author has to pay a fee up-front to release it as an open access article. As was reported in another post in this blog, journals like JVP require payment of $3,250. <br /><br /><a href="http://openpaleo.blogspot.com/2009/10/more-on-jvps-big-switch.html" rel="nofollow">http://openpaleo.blogspot.com/2009/10/more-on-jvps-big-switch.html</a><br /><br />In addition, it should be emphasized, libraries are not helped in this so-called "hybrid model" where only select articles are available as open access from an otherwise commercial publisher, since the large cost of subscribing does not disappear unless all authors pony up to release all the articles as open access. Examining the pattern in commercial journals that use this model, only a fraction of authors are doing this. The effect for most readers is that access to articles requires either a subscription or direct payment by the reader himself to buy a copy.<br /><br />Rather than this hybrid model of open access, libraries are encouraging authors to retain the right to self-archive their papers and then work with their libraries to deposit a copy at their institution. Alternatively, or in addition to this, authors may want to deposit a copy in a subject repository. (Is there such a thing for paleontology?)Tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00440985064601933566noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3467242881996852098.post-63482453699242025762009-11-04T17:57:41.815-08:002009-11-04T17:57:41.815-08:00Re: Andy, most public libraries will handle ILL re...Re: Andy, most public libraries will handle ILL requests on behalf of their users. It may take longer than an academic library and carry a small fee, but you will probably get it, probably for less than $30 cost to you.<br /><br />Not that this is a solution, but it's an improvement.<br /><br />Of course authors could solve the situation by posting a free copy of their article, which <a href="http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo.php" rel="nofollow">publishers almost always allow</a>.Gavin Bakerhttp://www.gavinbaker.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3467242881996852098.post-88939147635136535672009-10-31T14:55:40.657-07:002009-10-31T14:55:40.657-07:00If they lowered their prices more people worldwide...If they lowered their prices more people worldwide would buy their articles and consequently those soceties (or whatever they are) would win more dollars.Dinorider d'Andoandorhttp://dinorider.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3467242881996852098.post-13945164206651925502009-10-31T04:56:25.195-07:002009-10-31T04:56:25.195-07:00Well. I read through your article,yes it is imposs...Well. I read through your article,yes it is impossible to buy a single article for 30 dollars.Even all scientists in India faced the same problem when India's economic condition was bad. But, people are able to solve the problem.<br /><br />We did not want to invest too much money in this field but wanted most of journals to be available, so a body was set up to negotiate with publishers and provide access to all universities in India.<br /><br />Whichever journals are not subscribed, people can request the subscribing libraries to send the article and by this way save lot of money as well as get the resources.<br /><br />So, it basically comes upto the point that"If you have the will, then you will find a way".<br /><br />I dont know from which country the Blogger is ? but you should be also having a similar network of all universities in the country.<br /><br />If not, you can pioneer such a movement and help all the scholars to get access to e-resources.<br /><br />I was a student of biochemistry, but i found this field interesting and i am working with one such company providing technical support.<br /><br />Any queries, feel free to email me at : vimehendale@gmail.com.<br /><br />Looking forward for reply and expecting a debate on intellectual basisVivekanandahttp://musafirfreed.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3467242881996852098.post-42489854600983454062009-10-30T09:57:05.402-07:002009-10-30T09:57:05.402-07:00I would suspect that the main reason prices remain...<b><i>I would suspect that the main reason prices remain high is because some marketing research somewhere has shown that users in industry/medicine/whatever are willing to pay ridiculous prices for the information in their relevant journals</i></b><br /><br />Funny, I never got that impression at all...my sense (probably due entirely to cynicism, rather than data) has always been that these prices were due more to a "people will like what we tell them they like and will do what we tell them to do" attitude on the part of the publishers...dinogamihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14959197175594052460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3467242881996852098.post-48782708553591324282009-10-30T06:43:09.784-07:002009-10-30T06:43:09.784-07:00I wonder the same thing myself. . .I would suspect...I wonder the same thing myself. . .I would suspect that the main reason prices remain high is because some marketing research somewhere has shown that users in industry/medicine/whatever are willing to pay ridiculous prices for the information in their relevant journals, so even those of us in small, poor fields get hosed simultaneously.<br /><br />Part of the problem is likely that, for some articles, PDF sales volume would be low no matter what you sell them at. For instance, a PDF on <i>T. rex</i>-related research would sell like gangbusters, whereas even a completely revolutionary paper revising the taxonomy of atrypid brachiopods would sell perhaps 1 or 2 copies (no offense to brachiopod workers). Most articles probably fall into the latter category.Andyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16171447306687358664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3467242881996852098.post-51909234659353581182009-10-30T00:52:08.498-07:002009-10-30T00:52:08.498-07:00I often wonder just how many copies journals shift...I often wonder just how many copies journals shift at these prices. Does JVP (for example) really sell say 1000 PDFs each year at 30 bucks a pop, or is it more like 10? In which case would selling them for 5 not be more likely to make a profit, since they would (I would guess) sell more than 6 times as many at five dollars each...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3467242881996852098.post-41568107049275478002009-10-29T09:16:22.974-07:002009-10-29T09:16:22.974-07:00I agree that ILL is useful for those at institutio...I agree that ILL is useful for those at institutions with libraries, but many of us paleontologists are at small institutions <i>without libraries</i> (beyond those sitting on our personal bookshelves), and hence no institutional subscriptions of any sort. This also does not help the average paleo enthusiast who just wants to read the latest literature. Our local public libraries often don't have the access or the resources to fill such requests. Also, interlibrary loans do not fix the problem that many journals are simply overcharging for their "product." As an author, I firmly believe that it hurts me personally (and science as a whole) if my work isn't easily and affordably accessible.Andyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16171447306687358664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3467242881996852098.post-26269962490624971802009-10-29T08:53:33.431-07:002009-10-29T08:53:33.431-07:00If you are at an institution with a library, see w...If you are at an institution with a library, see what they can do for you. You remember the library, it's that place that spends the money on those institutional subscriptions that you DO get at your desktop. :) Well we have this freaky service called Interlibrary Loan. Many big academic libraries now ship PDFs instead of paper, depending on copyright policies of publishers etc. It won't be as fast as buying it immediately, but probably will be faster than requesting a copy from the author. Unless you need an exotic article THIS MINUTE, give your library a chance.Jenny Reiswighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11000378101269490235noreply@blogger.com