Startup Labtiva has launched a new service that is applying the iTunes sales model to articles in scientific journals, reports the Boston Globe.
The company is working with publishers and universities to create a system called ReadCube Access that will allow researchers to read articles from journals to which they do not subscribe. The library picks up the tab, paying $5 to $10 for a download and $3 to $6 for a 48-hour "rental."
Articles accessed through ReadCube cannot be printed or shared.
The first participants in the program are the University of Utah and Nature Publishing Group, whose parent company, Macmillan, invested $2 million in Labtiva two years ago.
Labtiva's founders say the pricing model will be appealing to university libraries that currently pay thousands of dollars for annual subscriptions to journals — many of which are only accessed a few times a year.
But even the program's first participant isn't entirely sold on the concept yet. Rick Anderson, interim dean of the J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah, tells the Globe that he likes the idea behind ReadCube Access, but is concerned that it will "work too well," ultimately driving costs higher than they would be with a site license.
The university is currently limiting ReadCube access to the chemistry department. "If we opened something like this up across the campus, you'd be taking a very big risk that your entire materials budget would get blown out in a month," he says.
"Articles accessed through
"Articles accessed through ReadCube cannot be printed or shared."????
Seriously? Have these people ever read a journal article? Not having the ability to print or share the material you are reading, makes this dead in the water. When I read an article, I want to take notes in the margins and show others the data. And they can't stop people from screen capturing each page (or select pages) of which ever article they are accessing.
A true iTunes model would be brilliant. I'd easily pay $5 to be able to print off an article.
Why not 99 cents??
Why not 99 cents??
Good point, but I figured no
Good point, but I figured no one would agree to a $0.99 business model.
This is just disgusting. All
This is just disgusting. All knowledge should be accessible freely by anyone. Science is, or should be, a gift economy. No author gets paid, or should get paid, when people download or read their articles. Publishers are parasites that need to be eradicated. We are in the 21st century, we don't need publishers anymore like in the time of the printing press. Thanks to the Internet, all digital information can be shared freely with everyone with virtually no cost. Open access is the only viable solution to sharing scientific knowledge, and ultimately, all content that exists in digital form.