Freedom of Science

Freedom Is Not Free

As with literary magazines, more and more scientific journals are going online. Scientific researchers usually must bear the cost of publication which runs to hundreds and often thousands of dollars. When you submit a paper for publication, it goes through peer review process which may take a few months to a year or so. Then the e...ditor may request modification or re-write. By the time the paper is published, it may be obsolete. Then the cost of reading. A scientific journal is not cheap, and one cannot subscribe to only a few. Or one has to go to a libraray and hunt for any articile of interest. A researcher's time is quite precious, and he or she may as well send off a poorly paid assistant, usually foreigners on temporary visa, to the library on a thankless salvage mission. Or, just outsource the entire scientific research to foreign countries and go to Wall Street to gamble and make money. Online scientific journals are one reaction to this state of stupidity and insanity.

Will America maintain the cutting edge in science and technology. I don't think so. Freedom of speech. They say freedom is not free. Unfortunate.

http://www.dmoz.org/Science/Publications/Journals/Free_Online_Journals/