More than a dozen Canadian science journals will reportedly not be available online for free to the public any more, as a result of the privatisation of the National Research Council's government-owned publishing arm.
Readers will now be required to pay $10 per article to read about new scientific discoveries in the 17 journals published by the National Research Council Research Press. Scientists, businesses, consultants, political aides and other people can also choose to get access through an institution that has an annual subscription. Back issues published between the 1950s and December 2010 will, however, remain freely accessible online to Canadians.
According to a report published in CBCnews, the new fees have been in effect since January 1. However, their impact will likely only become truly apparent over time as the cost of purchasing what are usually monthly or bi-monthly journals piles up. The new fees apply only to articles published after December 2010.
Not-for-profit company Canadian Science Publishing took over NRC Research Press journals in September 2010 after a federal government review decided scientific publishing should not be a government function. However, it maintained free online access to new articles until December.
About 30 academic institutions across Canada have now lost access to some or all of the journals in the collection. Another 44 universities have bought subscriptions to the full set of journals for $12,000 through an agreement negotiated by the Canadian Research Knowledge Network.
According to Cameron Macdonald, Executive Director of Canadian Science Publishing, the impact of the change in access is 'very little' on the average scientist across Canada. This, he says, is because subscriptions have been purchased by many universities, federal science departments and scientific societies.
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