Re: NIH as publisher

[Jan Velterop <velteropvonleyden@btinternet.com>]

Maybe not quite a tax-payer-funded ice cream maker, but we do have a
tax-payer-funded American Chemical Society. It's not just the generous tax
concessions that come with a non-profit status, but also the NSF grant (I
hear it was in the order of $25 million) that enabled the ACS to establish
a chemical registry system. Eugene Garfield called it "remarkable" that
the same society that accepted that grant now objects to the government
using the data from it.  Garfield was extremely charitable.

Joe's remarks remind me of the phrase "socialized publishing" I've heard
in connection with NIH's open science policies. (Chemical and Engineering
News, http://pubs.acs.org/cen/editor/8238edit.html). I guess we're happier
with "socialized science", given that we allow so much of science funding
to come from the public purse?

Jan Velterop