As a engineering student I find that for many projects I am working on I have to delve into the internet to find the information I need. Some of this information comes in the form of restricted access papers which require a user to pay a fee (anywhere from $20-$100) for access to the document. Well it looks as if the Access2Research group has started a petition to the Whitehouse to look into passing a law opening up the research to US taxpayers that have subsidized it through their taxes. This to me would help out and makes sense that what the Ameircan people help pay for it also theirs to view. I can see where it might detract from the money received by each of these publishers but at the same time someone's research could help spur development in other areas that might not have had access to it before. So what are your thoughts/opinions on this? Do you think that it will be beneficial or just another futile attempt? The original article is here: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2...ee-online-access-of-taxpayer-funded-research/ And peition (for USA residents only please) http://wh.gov/6TH I also urge you to forward it to friends and others so that the word can spread.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/01/open-free-access-academic-research There is something identical going on here.
Without meaning to sound indifferent or rude; is your university/collage just being cheep or have they got valid reasons for not getting you the information you need. I ask this as the university I graduated from (Robert Gordon University) and the university at which my girlfriend is reading (Aberdeen University) both subscribed to masses of publications of every sort and online repositories of research papers. I had / she has access to pretty much everything out there using an academic log-in, though I am now reduced to reading abstracts. Furthermore though I never found myself unable to access any information I needed, it did happen to a classmate - he put in a request through the university library, and a week later he had the paper he needed at no personal cost to himself.
Asura, our universities have access to certain databases of research and journals, however what I am looking for will not always be in the subscribed journals. The libraries are their own department within the university and AFAIK they cannot add or remove journals or grant access to other research papers without it being authorized first. Also, Yes our university is being cheap but when you consider it has had to cut over $100m within the past 5 years, i am honestly surprised we even have the subscriptions that we do. This last year alone the engineering department lost $3.2m and the library department shut down 2 libraries to deal with a $1.3m budget cut. Thanks state congress for rejecting tuition hikes while at the same time stripping the university's budget away.
