4 ms·

I like where you are going with this. What would that business look like? Would this be a new journal with a different way of making money or some kind of aggr

I like where you are going with this. What would that business look like? Would this be a new journal with a different way of making money or some kind of aggregator service? Seems like an aggregator service would be the most appealing way to access the data for the end user. I'd say these entrenched journals are being very cautious with an aggregator because the raw text data would be super valuable to companies, so they are probably going to try their hardest to limit usage of the data for individual access and bulk access. That's not to say an aggregator is not going to happen.

0xbadcafebee 5y ago
The problem is not access, it's the confusion around what journals are for. Researchers use journals for finding information and publishing information. But research institutions use journals as a hedge to avoid having to figure out what is "reputable research / researchers" and what is not. Those are two completely different use cases, so you need a solution to both. The simplest solution would be to separate those solutions, so there's one system for vetting information and researchers, and one system for finding or publishing information. Those can be different businesses or community-led efforts. There's also the aspect that publishing does not have to be inherent to access. One thing is finding who can publish; another is vetting their information; another is editing and layout; the final one is publishing. And then on top of that, is access. All of these are discrete steps which can be done independently of the other, by different organizations. App stores are one example. There's not one company putting out a million apps. They set standards and do curation, but the apps are completely constructed by an outside party. The app store handles publishing and access, but the publishing aspect is mostly just hosting. Another example is an Operating System. They don't restrict publishing or access, but they do provide a platform on which to do all the things needed to make or use data. Technically you only pay once for access to the platform, and other parties deal with the rest (which may involve payments).

0xbadcafebee 5y ago

The problem is not access, it's the confusion around what journals are for. Researchers use journals for finding information and publishing information. But research institutions use journals as a hedge to avoid having to figure out what is "reputable research / researchers" and what is not. Those are two completely different use cases, so you need a solution to both. The simplest solution would be to separate those solutions, so there's one system for vetting information and researchers, and one system for finding or publishing information. Those can be different businesses or community-led efforts. There's also the aspect that publishing does not have to be inherent to access. One thing is finding who can publish; another is vetting their information; another is editing and layout; the final one is publishing. And then on top of that, is access. All of these are discrete steps which can be done independently of the other, by different organizations. App stores are one example. There's not one company putting out a million apps. They set standards and do curation, but the apps are completely constructed by an outside party. The app store handles publishing and access, but the publishing aspect is mostly just hosting. Another example is an Operating System. They don't restrict publishing or access, but they do provide a platform on which to do all the things needed to make or use data. Technically you only pay once for access to the platform, and other parties deal with the rest (which may involve payments).