The public
39. The public is increasingly seeking access to
research findings through scientific journals. In particular,
patients want to inform themselves about medical conditions and
treatments that affect them. Dr Virginia Barbour, formerly Molecular
Medicine Editor at The Lancet, saw this as a positive development
because reading research articles could be a useful antidote to
lurid reporting of research findings in the press: "even
more serious broadsheet newspapers tend to prefer sensational
news rather than dull but worthy research". She notes that
the practice of "making information available only for a
high fee at the point of access has the most severe repercussions
for one particular group of end-users; patients".[64]
It is difficult to find fault with the aim of fostering a more
scientifically literate public. Nonetheless, in oral evidence
we heard dissenting voices. Dr John Jarvis of John Wiley told
us "let us be careful because this rather enticing statement
that everybody should be able to see everything could lead to
chaos. Speak to people in the medical profession, and they will
say the last thing they want are people who may have illnesses
reading this information, marching into surgeries and asking things".[65]
We understand that many journal articles are esoteric and, by
their very nature, inaccessible to large swathes of the public.
Nonetheless, we cannot see what damage could be done by allowing
the public to examine the articles for themselves. Unlike Dr Jarvis,
the possibility of better-informed patients "marching into
surgeries and asking things" does not fill us with horror.
We are convinced that it is better that the public should be informed
by peer-reviewed research than by pressure groups or research
as it is reported in the media.
40. It is not for either publishers or academics
to decide who should, and who should not, be allowed to read scientific
journal articles. We are encouraged by the growing interest in
research findings shown by the public. It is in society's interest
that public understanding of science should increase. Increased
public access to research findings should be encouraged by publishers,
academics and Government alike.
41. In theory, members of the public have recourse
to the same channels for journal access as researchers. They can
gain access through personal subscriptions; through their local,
perhaps local university, library; by using inter-library loans
or document supply; or on a pay-per-view basis. Personal subscriptions
to journals can be prohibitively expensive for the individual:
Blackwell cited an average subscription price for an individual
STM journal of £500.[66]
Nature Publishing Group cited rates from £87 to £2,843.[67]
Pay-per-view is also relatively expensive, as is shown above.
42. The commercial publishers we met told us that
journal articles were readily available through public libraries.
Sir Crispin Davis, Chief Executive of Reed Elsevier told us that
"any member of the public can access any of our content by
going into a public library and asking for it". Dr Jarvis
of Wiley agreed with him.[68]
These statements were contested by Vitek Tracz of BioMed Central
who set down a challenge: "try it. I do not advise you to
try it".[69] Our
experience tells us that, whilst it is in theory possible for
members of the public to gain access to specific journal articles
via their public library, such libraries do not tend to stock
a wide range of journal titles. However, public libraries can
obtain photocopies of articles on behalf of the user, assuming
that the user has the bibliographic and searching tools available
to enable them to identify articles that they need. If they do
not have access to the article itself, it is unlikely that they
will have access to the relevant search tools. Even if the user
is able to identify the article that they need, it can take as
long as a week to arrive. This is acceptable only if the user
does not need the article immediately. It is also likely that
public libraries would be unable to cope with more than the occasional
request. We are not convinced that journal articles are consistently
available to members of the public through public libraries.
43. Much of the problem with public access to journals
seems to be a consequence of digitisation. Brian Stuart McBeth,
a non-university user of the Bodleian Library in Oxford, informed
us that "institutions are bound by restrictive licence terms
negotiated and entered into by the Department of Education with
Athens [see below]. The terms are explicit in that access is only
authorised to current students and members of the staff of the
University".[70]
The Athens Access Management System was originally designed and
developed by the National Institute of Statistical Sciences to
provide "single sign-on" to information services for
the UK HE sector. The service is supported by JISC. Its use by
some publishers and libraries to limit the number of library users
able to read digital journals to university members only means
that some other "bona fide readers [
] are denied
access to online journals".[71]
The University of East Anglia is dissatisfied with the limitations
imposed on its provision of journals to the public, writing that
it is "restricted in giving access [
] in our regional
role as a major source for detailed scientific information/education
to the public. [
] Hardcopy allowed equal access (provided
you could understand it), online presupposes privileged access".[72]
In oral evidence Di Martin from the University of Hertfordshire
and Peter Fox from the University of Cambridge agreed that licensing
arrangements for digital journals meant that "walk-in"
library users had more restricted journal access than they did
with paper journals.[73]
44. The digitisation of journals has enabled both
publishers and libraries to monitor usage levels, but it has also
given them the means to police usage more closely. Some users
who could legitimately gain access to print publications through
their library are now prevented from accessing the digital version
of the same journals by restrictive access agreements. Digitisation
should facilitate, not restrict access. We recommend that the
next national site licence negotiated by the Joint Information
Systems Committee explicitly provides for all library users without
an Athens password to access the digital journals stocked by their
library.
The developing world
45. Whilst libraries in the developed world are struggling
to purchase access to all the scientific publications they need,
subscriptions are prohibitively expensive for institutions in
the developing world. One witness, Paul Pinter, told us that this
could lead to "an increasing marginalisation of science and
scientists in poorer countries, with a growing gulf in technological
proficiency and economic development between rich and poor".[74]
It is vitally important that the technological gap between developing
and developed countries is narrowed. Scientific journals have
a key role to play in ensuring that this takes place.
46. There are a number of schemes designed to give
free, or very low cost, access to journals to developing countries.
Three of the most well-known are:
- The Health Inter-Network Access
to Research Initiative (HINARI) provides free or nearly
free access to the major journals in biomedical and related social
sciences to public institutions in developing countries. The scheme
incorporates over 2,000 journals from 28 publishers, including:
Blackwell, Elsevier Science, the Harcourt Worldwide STM Group,
Wolters Kluwer International Health & Science, Springer Verlag
and John Wiley. Public institutions in two lists of countries,
based on GNP per capita, can sign up for HINARI. Institutions
in countries with GNP per capita below $1,000 are eligible for
free access to the literature. Institutions in countries with
GNP per capita between $1,000-$3,000 are eligible for access at
reduced prices.
- The Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture
(AGORA) scheme, sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations, and launched in October 2003, provides
access to more than 400 key journals in food, nutrition, agriculture
and related biological, environmental and social sciences.
- The International Network for the Availability
of Scientific Publications (INASP) is a co-operative network
of partners, established in 1992, aiming to improve world-wide
access to information. Its Programme for the Enhancement of Research
Information (PERI) provides access to over 5,000 full text
online STM, social science and humanities journals.
47. Publishers are to be commended for signing
up to laudable schemes such as HINARI, AGORA and INASP-PERI. We
hope that the provision of free and low-cost access to scientific
publications for institutions and researchers in developing countries
will continue to be a significant aspect of the way that they
conduct their businesses.
48. There is some concern that digital journals are
inaccessible to developing countries, which may not have the technological
infrastructure to receive and distribute them effectively. Sir
Crispin Davis told us that moving to a digital-only environment
"would have the result of reducing accessibility to scientific
research because it is only available on the internet. [
]
globally it would exclude over 50% of scientists".[75]
We are not convinced that this is the case. The distribution of
paper copies of journals is expensive and requires extensive logistical
infrastructure. Digital provision may, in fact, be more suited
to the needs of developing countries because it is cheaper and
more immediate. Dr Harold Varmus, of the Public Library of Science
(PloS) told us that "while not every worker may have a desktop
computer, every institution has a desktop computer and you can
download the appropriate articles. [
] in a place like Bamako
in Mali [
] where there is almost no access to papers unless
you travel to France or the States, this is a revolutionary change
which they welcome with open arms".[76]
On a recent visit to Malawi we heard that Malawi had a small but
significant and growing level of ICT infrastructure. The development
of ICT capacity was seen as key to enabling researchers to accede
to research networks via the internet. By using the internet,
researchers in the developing world became more aware of the range
of articles being published in their field. ICT also facilitated
access to journals, providing that they were affordable. The relatively
low levels of ICT in the developing world comparative to the West
is not an argument against digital journals, rather it highlights
the need for further development of ICT capacity to fully exploit
the potential of digital technologies. This issue is explored
further in paragraphs 1601679. The digitisation of journals
has the potential to greatly increase access to research findings
for researchers in the developing world.
45 Q 271. Note that the inter-library loan is not the
same as the British Library's Document Supply Service. Back
46
Ev 131 Back
47
Q 272 Back
48
Ev 356 Back
49
Ev 127 Back
50
Ev 212 Back
51
Ev 314 Back
52
Q 200 Back
53
www.mrc.ac.uk Back
54
Q 200 Back
55
Ev 161 Back
56
Ev 225 Back
57
Ev 185 Back
58
Ev 192 Back
59
Ev 185 Back
60
Ev 475 Back
61
Ev 476 Back
62
Ev 321 Back
63
Joint Funding Council's Libraries Review Group: Report (The Follett
Report), December 1993, para 250 Back
64
Ev 70 Back
65
Q 19 Back
66
Unprinted answers to supplementary questions from Blackwell Publishing Back
67
Nature Publishing Group, Price List 2004, www.npg.nature.com Back
68
Qq 65, 19 Back
69
Q 160 Back
70
Ev 421 Back
71
As above Back
72
Ev 204 Back
73
Qq 234-8 Back
74
Ev 67 Back
75
Q 65 Back
76
Q 180 Back