Research funding agencies are net contributors to
scholarship,
and to scholarly publishing.
First, the funding provided makes it possible to do more
research. Researchers give away the articles made possible
by the
research. Publishers pay nothing to the researcher, or to
the
funding agency. Publishers also often benefit directly
through
payment of traditional page charges, and indirectly through
the
indirect costs of research which often help to pay for
library
subscriptions. This source of revenue may not be obvious to
the
publisher. The page charges are paid by the author (from
funds
provided by the funding agency), the subscriptions by the
library
(sometimes through funds made available through transfers
from
departments with research funding).
To summarize this relationship: publishers are net
beneficiaries
of public research funding, receiving free content and
public
revenues both for production and subscriptions. Funding
agencies
are net contributors.
Any opinion expressed in this e-mail is that of the author
alone,
and does not represent the opinion or policy of BC
Electronic
Library Network or Simon Fraser University Library.
Heather Morrison, MLIS
The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics
http://poeticecon
omics.blogspot.com
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