Commentary: Scientists Must Take Lead In Battle For Lower Journal Prices

As stated at the recent American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting, rapidly escalating costs of published materials and the exponential growth of information have plunged science libraries into an information crisis (The Scientist, April 30, page 17). It is a rare treat for a librarian to have the opportunity to publicly suggest what a scholar, let alone a scientist, ought to do about anything, so I am pleased to offer the following suggestions:

• Support first-rate scientific publishing. By example, vote, and voice, use existing journals to publish better papers, rather than create additional journals to publish more papers. Do not propose a new journal where existing ones already fit the bounds of the discipline. We are told by editors and publishers that as many as 90 percent of submissions eventually are published, some through revision but others through being sent downstream to lesser journals. Is that 90 percent...