Re: e: PR's 'pit bull' takes on open access: excerpts from article in Nature Magazine

[Peter Banks <pbanks@bankspub.com>]

Mr. Banks has not interviewed homemakers in Houston. Instead, I=20
spent 20 years in patient education. I've looked at the=20
statistics that show 90 million Americans have limited health=20
literacy; considered the 40 million Hispanic patients for whom=20
English is often a second language; considered the fact that 47=20
million Americans have no health insurance and therefore no=20
opportunity to discuss health information with a physician. I've=20
created low-literacy health publications, Spanish language=20
publications.

I have also been a cancer patient and used the Internet. In the=20
search for information, NIH's MedLine Plus, the American Cancer's=20
Society page, and many other patient-oriented pages were=20
extremely useful. PubMed Central was largely useless, since I do=20
not happen to be a cultured cell or a rat.

At the same time, we made virtually all the content of the=20
journal Diabetes Care freely available (after a 3-month delay).=20
I/we did this not because it would help very many patients--from=20
usage statistics, it very clearly didn't--but not to inhibit=20
those few who might use the information productively.

What we didn't do is to adopt the reprehensible tactic of some OA=20
advocates or Sen. Cornyn and suggest that a treatment for breast=20
cancer or diabetes was locked behind subscriptions barriers. OA=20
may be a good idea on some grounds, but patient education is not=20
one of them.

Those who know little about patient education and empowerment=20
shouldn't presume to lecture others.

Peter Banks


On 1/29/07 11:31 AM, "C.Oppenheim" <C.Oppenheim@LBORO.AC.UK> wrote:

> Has Mr Banks done a survey of homemarkers in Hiouston to assess=20
> their desire to read medical journals?  If yes, can we see the=20
> methods and results please?  If not, his posting will be=20
> rightly ignored.
>
> Professor Charles Oppenheim
> Head
> Department of Information Science
> Loughborough University
> Loughborough
> Leics LE11 3TU
> e mail C.Oppenheim@lboro.ac.uk
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Peter Banks" <pbanks@BANKSPUB.COM>
> To: <AMERICAN-SCIENTIST-OPEN-ACCESS-FORUM@LISTSERVER.SIGMAXI.ORG>
> Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 2:30 PM
> Subject: Re: e: PR's 'pit bull' takes on open access: excerpts from artic=
le
> in Nature Magazine
>
> The reason to focus so much on large medical journals is that,=20
> at least in the United States, policy policy debate regarding=20
> scholarly publishing is almost entirely focused on clinical=20
> medicine--and on rather ignorant misconceptions of how OA can=20
> serve the general public.
>
> Exhibit A among the Legislators-Gone-Batty is Sen.John Cornyn:=20
> who claimed this in introducing the Federal Research Public=20
> Access Act of 2006 (S.2695):
>
> =B3Sall Americans will be positively affected as a result of this=20
> bill: Patients diagnosed with a disease or condition will be=20
> able to use the Internet to access the full text of articles=20
> containing the latest information on treatment and prognosisS=20
> The Internet gives the homemaker in Houston the ability to find=20
> volumes of information about a recent medical diagnosis given=20
> to a family member.=B2
>
> I have no met a homemaker in Houston who cares to read the=20
> American Journal of Physiology, no offense to that fine=20
> journal.
>
>
> On 1/29/07 3:26 AM, "C.Oppenheim" <C.Oppenheim@LBORO.AC.UK> wrote:
>
>> Peter Banks wrote:
>>
>> You, like so many in the OA community, are looking at small=20
>> journals in basic or social science and assuming that the=20
>> funding is the the same for medical journals (which are the=20
>> center of public policy debate). Enlightened debate on this=20
>> topic demands that we not start with false assumptions.
>>
>> To which the obvious reply is:
>>
>> You, like so many in the anti-OA community, are looking at a=20
>> very small number of large journals rather than the small=20
>> journals that provide the vast bulk of scholarly information.
>>
>> Charles
>>
>> Professor Charles Oppenheim
>> Head
>> Department of Information Science
>> Loughborough University
>> Loughborough
>> Leics LE11 3TU
>> e mail C.Oppenheim@lboro.ac.uk
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