Friday, July 31, 2015

Scientific journals are money-sucking scumbags.

When you charge $50 for the right to access a one-page article written in 1897 for two days, you know you've outdone every possible attempt at wallet draining. Even the worst DLC factories and annual-release franchises got nothing on this.

6 comments:

  1. What the fuck. Knowledge shouldn't be locked behind pay walls anyway, at least not hefty ones. I could understand if it's a copyright thing, but nothing from a hundred years sgo should be owned intellectually.

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    1. "We've GOT to have MONEY~!" Said Google executives in their money baths with walls and floors made of gold...

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  2. Might I ask what article this was?

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    1. Actually, I lied on the $50 figure.

      It's MORE than that. Somehow I misread 38 pounds as 38 euros.

      Anyway, it's this one:

      http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/1897/AN/AN8972200092#!divAbstract

      And yes, you can see the entire thing below, since the whole "show the first page when there's no abstract" doesn't work quite as well when the article only has one page.

      So not only are they charging 38 pounds for a one-page article from 1897, they're charging 38 pounds for a one-page article from 1897 THAT YOU CAN SEE IN FULL RIGHT THERE.

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  3. Yup. And when you're in high school, and you discover this when you HAVE to find scientific journals as sources, and you've been searching for one for three hours, it tends to be heartbreaking...

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    1. I studied in a science faculty which had a massive library full of these types of journals. One can only wonder how much money that's worth.

      (And then extreme left nutjobs insist on having higher education be free! Well, FUCK YOU. Maybe if you study history or some shit like that it's not very expensive, but science students? Between all the equipment, glassware, etc., not to mention the two-story gargantuan library, the tuition you pay is almost a steal!)

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