<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 7:32 PM, Dana Roth <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:dzrlib@library.caltech.edu">dzrlib@library.caltech.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">One would hope that knowledgeable contributors would please refrain from criticizing ‘publishers’ as a group ... as though there were no differences in their
policies towards academics. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">The stark contrast between the policies of the American Physical Society, for example, and many commercial publishers is so transparently obvious that I need
say no more.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u></span></p></div></div></blockquote><div>I agree that there are a few publishers who do not fit into the broad category I have suggested. This is true of all industries. There are companies in the pharmaceutical industry that do not deserve the criticism that many have for the major companies. But if we have to write "the pharmaceutical industry excepting A, B, C" or "except those that don't do X" discourse becomes impossible. It's a crude generalisation and polarizes debate but it is necessary for those who feel the whole system is completely flawed.<br>
<br>The RWA action was taken through the Association of American Publishers and these account for a very significant volume of published scholarly articles. Actions are taken which are broadly seen as coming from the industry rather than individual members. This has come up before with PRISM where publishers collaborated to discredit the Open Access movement. . There is then public criticism and a few members distance themselves, the fuss dies down and the publishers remain with the association. This has also happened with RWA. Members of the association are judged by the actions of their communal organization.<br>
<br>There is no sign that the publishing industry per se - apart perhaps from PLoS and a very few other small publishers is actively trying to change the current model - most of the others use traditional subscription models and are bound into the practice of the dominant model.<br>
<br><br><br><br><br></div></div>-- <br>Peter Murray-Rust<br>Reader in Molecular Informatics<br>Unilever Centre, Dep. Of Chemistry<br>University of Cambridge<br>CB2 1EW, UK<br>+44-1223-763069<br>