From: Sandy Thatcher <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 2015 23:51:48 -0500

What makes you think all research is funded, especially in the
humanities and social sciences? If there is no funder, whom
do you suggest should be paying the costs?

Sandy Thatcher



> From: Sue Gardner <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Fri, 2 Oct 2015 14:40:29 +0000
>
> Ari,
>
> Thank you very much for your comments. I agree that the whole system
> needs to be reconsidered. The current system invites corruption and
> mediocrity and does not serve readers nor authors. The only entity
> that invariably does well in the current system is publishers.
>
> In lieu of rehashing my detailed thoughts on this the list, the
> synopsis is: readers and authors should not pay for content creation
> or access, funders (public and private) should pay publishers
> directly, and institutions and aggregators should be not-for-profit
> middlemen/providers. In this scenario, readers and authors pay
> indirectly in a distributed fashion by paying taxes and supporting
> businesses that pay the for-profit publishers. Publishers in this
> scenario are accountable directly to funders, and can not run away
> with profits to the same extent as they do currently. It's a closed
> loop.
>
> Libre vs. gratis is an entirely separate issue, and is just as
> salient, but does not advance the economic discussion directly.
>
> Sue Gardner
>
> Sue Ann Gardner, MLS
> Scholarly Communications Librarian
> Discovery and Resource Management
> University of Nebraska-Lincoln
> Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-4100 USA
> [log in to unmask]