Comments on: SCOAP3 and Access to Scientific Literature http://pubfrontier.com/2007/12/08/scoap3-and-access-to-scientific-literature/ A raucous public discussion of the publishing revolution. Sat, 22 Nov 2008 05:21:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: John Mark Ockerbloom http://pubfrontier.com/2007/12/08/scoap3-and-access-to-scientific-literature/#comment-6 John Mark Ockerbloom Mon, 10 Dec 2007 02:10:55 +0000 http://pubfrontier.com/2007/12/08/scoap3-and-access-to-scientific-literature/#comment-6 As I understand it, it's not actually an "author pays" model (which *is* the model that some open access and pay-to-access journals use) but a "major library consortia and funders pay" model. After one of the SCOAP3 folks visited our library, I wrote up a post with more details on the funding scheme as I understood it. You can find it at http://everybodyslibraries.com/2007/11/29/turning-an-entire-field-open-access/ As another member of the general public who's also not a high energy physicist but who is scientifically literate, I'd add that I do expect to see some benefit for these papers. To take one example, I often find that reports of scientific papers in the press and other popular media are often rather different from what the papers actually say. Being able to look at the actual papers can make it easier for me and others to determine the actual nature, reliability and impact of the research featured in the media stories. As I understand it, it’s not actually an “author pays” model (which *is* the model that some open access and pay-to-access journals use) but a “major library consortia and funders pay” model. After one of the SCOAP3 folks visited our library, I wrote up a post with more details on the funding scheme as I understood it. You can find it at
http://everybodyslibraries.com/2007/11/29/turning-an-entire-field-open-access/

As another member of the general public who’s also not a high energy physicist but who is scientifically literate, I’d add that I do expect to see some benefit for these papers. To take one example, I often find that reports of scientific papers in the press and other popular media are often rather different from what the papers actually say. Being able to look at the actual papers can make it easier for me and others to determine the actual nature, reliability and impact of the research featured in the media stories.

]]>