DC Principles group returns with a new press release

The DC Principles group has reared its ugly head once again with a new press release attacking S.2695 the Federal Research Public Access Act. Fortunately they are not very active as their last press release was back in September. They tell us that they are all about public access to research. They use words like:

Scientific publishers, in collaboration with academic institutions, scientists, and libraries, have been at the forefront of innovations that have improved and continue to improve access to research information. As a result, more scientific papers are now available to more people than at any time in history.

Of course, this is not what they are about. They are all about protecting their monopolies and their ability to make money off of taxpayer funded research. I've discussed this before: Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006 and Open Access in Scientific Publishing: Where are the land-grants?

Fortunately, the universities are not lining up with the publishers and scientific societies on this one. The whole model of scientific publishing is antiquated, obsolete, and just plain wrong. It has to be fixed. Fortunately, academics are not sitting still and we have some magnificent examples pointing to the future of scientific publishing such as the Public Library of Science.

The DC Principles is just another example of an archaic industry attempting to protect their profits. They need to be stopped. Please write your representatives and ask them to support S.2695.

For more information see: SPARC