open access to scientific information

Free Public Access to Science—Will It Happen? (July 7, 2003) — If Congressman Martin Sabo of Minnesota has his way, the results of federally funded research in science and medicine will be available freely to all. Rep. Sabo introduced a bill, Public Access to Science Act, HR 2613, on June 26, 2003. The proposed legislation states that copyright protection is not allowed for any work produced as a result of federally funded research. The legislation further states: “the Internet makes it possible for this information to be promptly available not only to every scientist and physician who could use it to further the public good, but to every person with access to the Internet at home, in school, or in a library.”

Derk Haank, former chairman of Elsevier Science, disagrees with the views of Eisen and Rep. Sabo. He said: “The material has to be available for the people who need it. And when I talk about people who need it, I am not talking about the general public, because we are talking here about scientific information, specialist information. People who want to use this and who need it are part of an institute. You don’t do it as a self-proclaimed intellectual in your garden shed.”(Kaser, Dick. “Ghost in A Bottle”, Information Today, February 2002.)

Derk Haank's preconceived notion that products of scientific research are not needed and not usable by the general public is definitely wrong. It is perhaps true that in the current settings of publishing scientific information the general public is perceived as not very interested; the scientific information is not readily available. However, if the infrastructure is proper and the scientific information is readily available, that would remove one of the barriers of accessing scientific information by the general public.

Then, the most challenging task would be to inform the general public that such information is freely available and can be of great use.