Learned societies and open access

[Mark Funk <mefunk@mail.med.cornell.edu>]

Regarding the comments about "real-world economic concerns" of societies,
it may be useful to re-read the interview with Elizabeth Marincola, the
Executive Director of the American Society for Cell Biology.  
<http://www.biomedcentral.com/openaccess/archive/?page=features&issue=6>

Molecular Biology of the Cell, the society's publication, allows free
access to articles two months after publication. Subscriptions have
increased after this policy was implemented.

A few quotes from the interview:

"The more dependent societies are on their publications the farther away
they are from the real needs of their members."

"No publication in the world can credibly argue that their revenues will
be significantly affected if they release their content six months after
publication."

"Our annual meeting produces a net revenue to the society. The single
largest source of society revenue is the exhibit booth."

"It is the explicit goal of the society to try to find a way to release
MBC without even a two-month delay while retaining our financial base."

-- 
Mark Funk
Head, Collection Development
Weill Cornell Medical Library
1300 York Avenue
New York, NY 10021
212-746-6073
mefunk@mail.med.cornell.edu