(Fwd) News from Public Library of Science

["Thomas Hilberer" <thomas.hilberer _at__ uni-tuebingen.de>]

Liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen,
lange englische Mails machen mir auch keinen Spass, aber die folgende 
scheint mir ziemlich wichtig und interessant zu sein.
(Man beachte auch den Passus
providing funds from library budgets
to support open access publishing
.)
Was die kleinen und preiswerten geisteswissenschaftlichen Zeitschriften in Deutschland 
anbelangt, so bahnt sich hier ebenfalls eine Entwicklung hin zur Online-Publikation an:

die meisten dieser Zs leben nicht nur von den Abo-Preisen, sondern auch von 
Druckkostenzusschuessen, bes. der DFG, die meist ebenso hoch sind wie die Abo-
Preise. Da die Auflagen sinken, und der DFg-Haushalt sich nicht in gewuenschtem Masse 
entwickelt, werden diese Zuschuesse nun in Frage gestellt.
Dabei entfallen meist 2/3 bis 3/4 der Zuschuesse auf Druck, Papier, Verlag; nur der 
geringste Teil sind redaktionelle Kosten.
Bleibt zu hoffen, dass die meisten dieser nicht mehr gefoerderten Zeitschriften dann frei - 
aber weiterhin mit hoher redaktioneller Qualitaet - im Internet zu lesen sind (was der 
Verbreitung von Forschungsergebnissen nur foerderlich waere).
Abbestellungen koennen solch zukunftsgerichtete Entwicklungen nur foerdern!
Herzliche Gruesse aus dem tueben Trueblingen,
Ihr
Thomas Hilberer
------- Weitergeleitete Nachricht / Forwarded message -------
Datum:   	Tue, 17 Dec 2002 02:34:19 -0800
Von:            	Public Library of Science Initiative <update _at__ publiclibraryofscience.org>
An:             	THOMAS HILBERER <TH _at__ HILBERER.DE>
Antwort an:     	<feedback _at__ publiclibraryofscience.org>
Betreff:        	News from Public Library of Science

We are writing to you and 31,000 other colleagues who signed the
Public Library of Science open letter, to share some exciting news:
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has awarded a $9 million grant
to the  Public Library of Science to enable us to launch new journals
that will allow scientists to make their works freely and universally
available from the moment of publication through  international,
online "public libraries of science", without  sacrificing the
recognition and audience that a reputable journal can  provide.

PLoS will begin by publishing two journals - PLoS Biology and PLoS
Medicine - that will retain all of the important features of
scientific journals, including rigorous peer-review and high editorial
standards, but will use a new business model in which the costs of
these services are  recovered by modest fees on each published paper.
This new model will allow PLoS to make all published works immediately
available online, with no charges for access or restrictions on
subsequent redistribution  or use.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute in the US has strongly endorsed
this concept by by offering to cover the costs of open access
publication by means of a budget supplement to each of its
investigators. Several universities have recognized the tremendous
value of open access publishing to the scientific and academic
communities (as well as long term financial savings of this model) and
have taken similar steps by providing funds from library budgets to
support open access publishing.  We are confident that other funding
agencies and research institutions will similarly endorse the idea of
using grant money and institutional funds to cover modest authors'
fees.  

We have also taken steps to ensure that authors who do not have
access to grant funds or institutional support that allow them to pay
publication fees will still be able to publish their work in our
journals.

We have begun putting together a superlative professional editorial
staff, and assembling a diverse, international editorial advisory
board of outstanding scientists who share our goals. We are aiming to
begin receiving submissions by summer 2003, and to begin publishing in
the second half of 2003.  

You can find more information about this new initiative at:
http://www.publiclibraryofscience.org   (please bookmark it!).

Thanks for your continued support.

Harold E. Varmus
Patrick O. Brown
Michael B. Eisen

for Public Library of Science

--- Ende der weitergeleiteten Nachricht / End of forwarded message ---
-------
Dr. Thomas Hilberer, Fakultaetsbibliothek Neuphilologie
Tel.: 07071  29-74325; FAX: 29-5811
Wilhelmstr. 50, 72074 Tuebingen
http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/fb-neuphil/