patrick.net

Patrick says

I agree with them.

Why? If someone developed that knowledge, let them benefit from it for a certain number of years. Or else, they won't spend the time and money it takes to develop that knowledge, and we all end up losing out.
By the way, "basic knowledge" cannot be patented.

Strategist says

Why? If someone developed that knowledge, let them benefit from it for a certain number of years. Or else, they won't spend the time and money it takes to develop that knowledge, and we all end up losing out.

The people writing the papers do not benefit. The journal does not pay them for manuscripts. Authors submit them for free, and volunteers 'referee' the articles. The journal performs some real editing tasks, so they do add some value, but they overcharge for articles IMO. They are charging a lot for a small number of reads. Authors sometimes have the ability to pay the journal to make the article open access, so that they may distribute the articles for free.

Anybody who receives more than $2000 in grants, subsidies, or any Federal Money should be required to write a "Thank You to the US Taxpayer For Generous Patronage of $$$$. Sincerely, NAME" that must be filed with the Federal Agency in charge. If it's an institution, they must also recite the Pledge at least once a year and officially record as part of their annual meeting.

All Academic Research, hard or soft science, or literature, paid for with more than 50% State or Federal Funds should be free from Copyright for any US Citizen to utilize.

"Thank You to the US Taxpayer For Generous Patronage of $30 Million Dollars, Sincerely, General Motors."
"Thank You to the US Taxpayer For Generous Patronage of $50,000, Sincerely, the Lesbian Eskimo Women of Color Journal."

Patrons should be thanked, it's common decency. Not thanking a generous patron is the definition of Entitlement.

Imagine how many Koch Industry subdivisions and Women Studies Department would grit their teeth every year. "We, the Journal of Left Handed Lesbian Midget Poetry, pledges Allegiance to the Flag, of the United States of America..."

Be Thankful, ASSHOLES!!!

You guys don't know what you are talking about. Anybody can submit a copy of their paper (basically identical to what they submit to a regular journal) to an open access e-print archive, e.g. https://arxiv.org/
Also, some agencies, like the DOE, now require all publications to be made open access.

FP

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/11/court-demands-search-engines-and-internet-service-providers-block-sci-hub

The new ruling also states that internet search engines, web hosting sites, internet service providers (ISPs), domain name registrars and domain name registries cease facilitating “any or all domain names and websites through which Defendant Sci-Hub engages in unlawful access to, use, reproduction, and distribution of the ACS Marks or ACS's Copyrighted Works.”

“This case could set precedent for the extent third-parties on the internet are required to enforce government-mandated censorship,” says Daniel Himmelstein, a data scientist at the University of Pennsylvania who recently analyzed how many journal papers Sci-Hub holds.

Holy shit. Now mere references to websites have become illegal?

Link & DIE!

It's worse than you think. I've published in scientific journals. I can't even make similar statements in a new publication that mirror my publication without referencing it, otherwise, I am guilty of plagiarism.

Patrick says

Much (most?) of this research is funded with tax dollars

Citation of some kind on this? How much publicly funded research is copyrighted and only available through a pay service? Do pay services exist because there isn't any kind of publishing database to provide the material free or do they compete with free sources? I have o idea but it seems like one should know what the problem is and how big before getting up in arms.

Clearly then the issue is funding the research publications, because they’ve chosen to fund themselves in this archaic way. I think a basic government grant to established publications like Nature and Cell would take care of the issue and allow them to freely distribute published articles. We grant for the research, why not the publishing?

I think most journals predate the Federal funding and have developed their own reputations. We always had big discussions on where and where not to publish. My opinion is that price needs to come down dramatically. They make the majority of their bucks off university subscriptions

If they did that then they would admit that much of it is pseudo science so they could then move to protect their IP.