Marie Meyer, Managing Director of open-access publisher Vertilog, rejects the idea that an open-access publication is sustainable if a business can deliver what customers need or want, at a price that they are willing to pay. No, she says. Companies are sustainable in the long run only if they create economic value -- and simply generating revenues is not evidence of value creation. "If I set up a business selling £1 coins for 99p, it could easily generate revenue. How long I could afford to stay in business is another matter entirely." Criticizing those who have argued that the Internet changes everything, she says that open-access publishing models don't create new value and "could easily be ushering in a dot-com-style cycle of wealth destruction that will leave them -- and dozens of learned societies -- constantly scratching for funds, with nothing left over for funding innovation." (Nature 6 May 2004)
posted by Marcus Zillman |
4:10 AM
