4 ms·

University Of California Approves Major Open Access Policy To Make Research Free

113 points by nahcub 13y ago

adamzerner 13y ago
This is a relevant read: http://blog.priceonomics.com/post/50096804256/why-is-science-behind-a-paywall http://blog.priceonomics.com/post/50096804256/why-is-science...
throwaway1979 13y ago
Now if University research could not be patented, we'd be getting somewhere ...
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
  - jlgreco 13y ago
    "The public" seems like a reasonable option. The public pays for it, and in return, the public gets that 'intellectual property'.
    - wfunction 13y ago
      The public pays for it, but often times, so does industry.
      - mtgx 13y ago
        Then it should be separate, patent-free with public money, patented with industry money.
      - fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
        Having been involved with some of these Industry/Academic partnership grants, some of them are not what you think. The worst I have seen are simply corporate welfare, using colleges to launder the source of the money.
    - rayiner 13y ago
      It's not quite as simple as that. The public pays these researchers' salaries, but part of the bargain is that they get to profit from anything they patent. If that were no longer the case, a lot of researchers might jump ship to the private sector, where they get higher salaries in return for their employer controlling their research. In any case, it's not fair to change the bargain retrospectively. The promise of being able to patent and otherwise profit from their research is part of the bargain in the existing status quo, and an important part of that bargain.
      - throwaway1979 13y ago
        That's the model of industrial labs. You get a salary. IP is owned by the company. Wouldn't it be awesome if there was some institution (a University is a perfect example), which similarly pays its researchers a salary (sure, it should match the private sector salaries) and the resulting IP is public domain. Heck, it would promote the private sector to devote more resources to research ... if the private sector made a discovery, they could patent it and get exclusivity. If a University did it, it belongs to everyone.
- gcr 13y ago
  Why would that be important? Many professors conduct research that they wish to commercialize in their startups/side companies.
rflrob 13y ago
The policy is imperfect, though, due to an opt out clause. http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/?p=1413 http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/?p=1413
- smutticus 13y ago
  I dunno. As a CA taxpayer I agree with you. But as someone who understands how important it is for academics to publish in fancy journals I kinda understand. I'm torn on this one.
- sksk 13y ago
  Thank you for the link. It was way more informative than the TC article.
- skrebbel 13y ago
  Without that clause, many major researches will leave UC because they have virtually no journal to publish anymore. Indeed, that sucks, but you have to attack this problem in steps. The fact that it's an opt out is significant. Most universities haven't even gotten as far as saying "dear staff, please think about doing that open access thing once in a while". UC says "You're going to do open access, unless you really don't want to and then you can do otherwise". The push is very strong. The university, centrally, very clearly and unambiguously declared what they think is the right direction. Scientists can respond by asking for UC's (financial / political) support with starting new initiatives and open journals, or when pressuring existing journals to go open. In the longer term, actions like these may actually help UC attract top scientists. If you write a paper, you prefer it to be read by as many people as possible. The only reason to be OK with it being behind a paywall is if, somehow, through something culturally grown, it is the only way to advance your career. If you can have similar career chances publishing openly, then that is very attractive indeed. I think many researchers will find that this makes writing papers more worthwhile, more fun. I'm looking forward to when all modern scientists have a blog on which they post abstracts and download links, including comment threads and all the fast, dynamic interaction that entails.
  - yummyfajitas 13y ago

113 points by nahcub 13y ago

This is a relevant read: http://blog.priceonomics.com/post/50096804256/why-is-science-behind-a-paywall http://blog.priceonomics.com/post/50096804256/why-is-science...

throwaway1979 13y ago

Now if University research could not be patented, we'd be getting somewhere ...

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
- jlgreco 13y ago
  "The public" seems like a reasonable option. The public pays for it, and in return, the public gets that 'intellectual property'.
  - wfunction 13y ago
    The public pays for it, but often times, so does industry.
    - mtgx 13y ago
      Then it should be separate, patent-free with public money, patented with industry money.
    - fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
      Having been involved with some of these Industry/Academic partnership grants, some of them are not what you think. The worst I have seen are simply corporate welfare, using colleges to launder the source of the money.
  - rayiner 13y ago
    It's not quite as simple as that. The public pays these researchers' salaries, but part of the bargain is that they get to profit from anything they patent. If that were no longer the case, a lot of researchers might jump ship to the private sector, where they get higher salaries in return for their employer controlling their research. In any case, it's not fair to change the bargain retrospectively. The promise of being able to patent and otherwise profit from their research is part of the bargain in the existing status quo, and an important part of that bargain.
    - throwaway1979 13y ago
      That's the model of industrial labs. You get a salary. IP is owned by the company. Wouldn't it be awesome if there was some institution (a University is a perfect example), which similarly pays its researchers a salary (sure, it should match the private sector salaries) and the resulting IP is public domain. Heck, it would promote the private sector to devote more resources to research ... if the private sector made a discovery, they could patent it and get exclusivity. If a University did it, it belongs to everyone.
gcr 13y ago
Why would that be important? Many professors conduct research that they wish to commercialize in their startups/side companies.

rflrob 13y ago

The policy is imperfect, though, due to an opt out clause. http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/?p=1413 http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/?p=1413

smutticus 13y ago
I dunno. As a CA taxpayer I agree with you. But as someone who understands how important it is for academics to publish in fancy journals I kinda understand. I'm torn on this one.
sksk 13y ago
Thank you for the link. It was way more informative than the TC article.
skrebbel 13y ago
Without that clause, many major researches will leave UC because they have virtually no journal to publish anymore. Indeed, that sucks, but you have to attack this problem in steps. The fact that it's an opt out is significant. Most universities haven't even gotten as far as saying "dear staff, please think about doing that open access thing once in a while". UC says "You're going to do open access, unless you really don't want to and then you can do otherwise". The push is very strong. The university, centrally, very clearly and unambiguously declared what they think is the right direction. Scientists can respond by asking for UC's (financial / political) support with starting new initiatives and open journals, or when pressuring existing journals to go open. In the longer term, actions like these may actually help UC attract top scientists. If you write a paper, you prefer it to be read by as many people as possible. The only reason to be OK with it being behind a paywall is if, somehow, through something culturally grown, it is the only way to advance your career. If you can have similar career chances publishing openly, then that is very attractive indeed. I think many researchers will find that this makes writing papers more worthwhile, more fun. I'm looking forward to when all modern scientists have a blog on which they post abstracts and download links, including comment threads and all the fast, dynamic interaction that entails.
- yummyfajitas 13y ago