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What's worse is that the papers ACM charge for via their Portal site are often papers you can get (legally) for free elsewhere. For example, there is an ACM Po
by mreid 16y ago
What's worse is that the papers ACM charge for via their Portal site are often papers you can get (legally) for free elsewhere.
For example, there is an ACM Portal page ( http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1553489 http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1553489 ) for a paper I wrote that is freely available from the conference site ( http://machinelearning.org/archive/icml2009/abstracts.html http://machinelearning.org/archive/icml2009/abstracts.html ).
There is no indication on the ACM page (the DOI on that page just returns the ACM page) that this content is available elsewhere without the $15 fee.
It's bordering on unscrupulous in my opinion.
- jonhendry 16y agoIt's not their obligation to track down cheaper or free sources. That's silly. After all, the ACM isn't going to waste time keeping track of the various sources of every paper they publish. It's not their job. If someone is motivated by the fee to find another source, they'll do so. Maybe they'll ask their colleagues. Maybe they'll search the web. Maybe they'll take the time to visit a university library and track down a print copy. But if they don't care about the price, they'll just do the easiest thing and pay the ACM in order to save time. It's not the ACM's job to do the legwork. If you want to save the money, you have to do the work yourself.
- epc 16y agoWho do you think should pay for the servers, maintenance & upkeep of the ACM site? It's a non-profit organization supported (barely in some years) by membership dues.