Science Memes

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submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 67 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (10 children)

Just so we’re clear, it’s not obvious nor is the general public misunderstanding anything. There are not a lot of situations like that with basically any other thing that has been monetized. I am a filmmaker. Even if I directed, produced, and starred in the film, I cannot necessarily send you a copy for free even if I want to (legally). There are other parties involved that restrict what I can and can’t do with the product, typically film festivals until the festival circuit is done and then distributors.

This is very common and most people just kind of assume It to be the case with academic journals.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (3 children)

There are other parties involved that restrict what I can and can’t do

I'm going to guess it's got something to do with the high cost of creating the actual film reel that gives creditors the power to dictate access to the film as per a contract.

You see how that may be different yet?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago (1 children)

It is different, but tbf academics are also reliant on external funding sources to conduct research. It's not absurd to think that the grant writers or university administration might have some stipulations about the free distribution of research they paid for.

Have we forgotten what happened to Aaron Swartz? With the state of the world today, I naturally expect everything to be monetized, regardless of whether it makes any rational or ethical sense.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago

To be fair though, the people who fund the research are not the people who lose out if the publisher isn't paid their £30. They are very often governmental or inter-governmental research agencies and programmes. Realistically it is rare for anyone except from the publisher to care about free distribution. The publishers are however pretty vicious (e.g. Swartz's case).

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