From: Anthony Watkinson <[log in to unmask]> Date: Sun, 7 Apr 2013 11:58:48 +0100 Learned societies lose out. They represent scholars. The money from corporate sales is part of the money they receive directly or indirectly. Anthony -----Original Message----- From: "Friend, Fred" <[log in to unmask]> Date: Tue, 2 Apr 2013 14:25:10 +0000 Dear Anthony, Who is losing out by this "complete removal of a source of income"? The taxpayer is not losing out because the pharma companies pay taxes, taxes which pay for the toll-free access to publicly-funded research outputs. The pharma companies are not freeloading upon the economies of the countries in which they are based (or if they are it is not because of the availability of free journals). The benefit that the pharma companies receive from open access contribute to economic growth in the same way as the benefit that any commercial company receives from OA contributes to economic growth. Publicly-funded research does not lose out because research institutions would not have received any income from the money paid for journals by the pharma companies. So are the publishers of the journals previously purchased by the pharma companies the only stakeholders losing out? If so, forgive me if I do not shed any tears over their loss. Fred Friend Honorary Director Scholarly Communication UCL