Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Hiding your research behind a paywall is immoral

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

As the title suggests, Mike Taylor argues in the Guardian that publishing scientific papers in subscription-based journals is immoral. "Dammit, we're scientists. Our job is to make knowledge. If we make it, then brick it up behind a wall, we're wasting our time and our funders' money – which ultimately means we're squandering the world's wealth. Publishing behind paywalls is immoral. More than that, it's oxymoronic: if it's behind a paywall, it hasn't been published. We have to stop doing it, now and for always." Needless to say, I agree. I especially appreciate the remarks about journal "impact factors", which are mistakenly taken to represent the importance of published scientific works.

Today: 2 Total: 26 [Direct link] [Share]

Image from the website


Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

Copyright 2024
Last Updated: Dec 25, 2024 08:34 a.m.

Canadian Flag Creative Commons License.

Force:yes