Re: ACS meeting comments on government intervention (Albert Henderson) Marcia Tuttle 06 Apr 2000 12:31 UTC
---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2000 23:23:25 -0400 From: Albert Henderson <NobleStation@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Re: ACS meeting comments on government intervention on Tue, 4 Apr 2000 Stevan Harnad <harnad@coglit.ecs.soton.ac.uk> wrote: > On Tue, 4 Apr 2000, Dr. Stephen R. Heller wrote: > > > At the ACS meeting last week theer were some interesting comments on the > > many activities discussed in this forum. A write up on this is available > > at: > > > > http://chemweb.com/alchem/2000/news/nw_000331_publish.html > > > > The opening paragraph says: > > > > The message from scientific publishers was clear. Government > > intervention in the field of journals and databases is not only > > unwelcome, but possibly unconstitutional too. This was one of > > many fascinating topics discussed as part of the popular CIN > > session at the ACS Spring Meeting in San Francisco this week. > > It will be interesting to see how government intervention in providing > researchers with the means to publicly disseminate their research findings > -- often funded by government research grants that mandate public > dissemination, and always given away by their authors for free -- > can be construed as unconstitutional. > [snip] Floyd E Bloom quoted a Senate advisory panel's observation from 40 years ago: "The case for a Government-operated, highly centralized type of center can be no better defended for scientific information services than it could be for automobile agencies, delicatessens, or barber shops." (Science 285:197 1999) The point is that scientists exchange their work for dissemination and recognition by their peers. It is best done in the private sector. Government management always looses any hint of excellence, particularly in the information area. Look, for instance, at Index Medicus. Coverage originally took in the entire field of biomedicine. Now it covers about 10 percent according to its own estimates. Or look at the stagnating database used by the National Science Board to create tables for SCIENCE & ENGINEERING INDICATORS and ask what it in the world it is supposed to indicate. Or see how the government has run NTIS into the ground. Albert Henderson Editor, PUBLISHING RESEARCH QUARTERLY <70244.1532@compuserve.com>