print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the Internet itself.” Vardi, to his credit, is a signer of the Initiative. I urge him to reconsider its implications for ACM journals.

His more general point was that the status quo should be good enough, since the price of ACM’s publications is, in his words, “very reasonable.” He invited readers to consult their librarians for confirmation. My librarian, Kevin Engel of the Kistle Science Library at Grinnell College, says that the prices charged for ACM publications are roughly comparable to those of other professional organizations, perhaps not quite as outrageous as those of, say, the American Chemical Society, though somewhat more outrageous than the American Psychological Association.

However, Engel also says that ACM stands out as the only professional organization that views the print version of its publications as its main profit center and hence refuses to offer an online-only subscription bundle, putting many researchers and students at a disadvantage.

As a signer of the Budapest Initiative, I strongly prefer open access to ACM journals for everyone. Even if ACM is unwilling to take such a step, we could move incrementally in this general direction by unbundling its subscriptions and making the online editions of its publications separately available for purchase.

John David Stone, Grinnell, IA

 

I’d like to thank Moshe Y. Vardi for his thoughtful analysis of open access (July 2009) and offer a few additional points. (My employer, O’Reilly Media, provides technical information in the form of books and other media in both open and closed forms; this comment does not necessarily represent the views of O’Reilly Media.) The most valuable benefit of providing open access to publications is it allows us to be “part of the conversation” in vibrant and productive online forums. ACM publications are widely cited; I just checked my own articles and blogs over the past few years and found I referred to Communications

16 times. Were the articles easier to search, read, and link to on the Web, they would play an even more important role in online discussions, as they do in professional publications. Reader comments would further enhance the value of the content.

However, this would not solve Vardi’s concern over the cost of editing and publishing. He wrote that the prices charged for ACM journals not only cover the cost of their publication (an impressive achievement in itself) but yield a surplus that supports other ACM activities (truly commendable). I don’t blame ACM for sticking to its partly closed model.

An alternative, if ACM were to go open, would be to subsidize publications through increased dues or other charges. I’m sure it would alter the calculation for ACM members ( particularly students) when deciding whether to join for the first time or renew their memberships each year and might require new forms of fundraising. It’s certainly common for organizations to ask members and donors to pay for development of information otherwise offered free to the world. If these publications represent the core offering to ACM members, the strategy is risky.

andy oram, Cambridge, MA

 

I’d like to propose yet another business model for the ACM Digital Library that blends both sides of the open vs. closed access debate, per Moshe Y. Vardi (July 2009). I agree that high-quality science publishing bears unavoidable costs even for electronic-only journals readers should pay for. But scientific papers should be shared free of charge with the largest audience possible. As a teacher, I must often explain basic algorithms and data structures by citing original pioneering papers. Because these “old” papers are still under copyright, students cannot freely and securely access them in digital libraries. They get only a limited view of their full technical coverage, getting the main aspects of highly cited papers while missing the full scope of the techniques being covered.

ACM should consider making available (for free) a set of highly rated CS papers from the Digital Library. This would offer students the historical papers that forged the science in the first

place, letting them in turn explore the functionalities of the Digital Library and inspiring their future interest in being subscribers. One way to do so might be to offer a free Education Library as a subset of the Digital Library.

frank Nielsen, Paris, France

acm Responds:

Concerning Stone’s comments, please know that ACM does offer online-only subscriptions; a library need not buy a print package in order to subscribe to the Digital Library. In fact, most ACM library customers today belong to consortia for which the basic package is online-only access to the Digital Library with one free print package included; additional print packages are available to every member of a consortium, though few opt to buy them. Meanwhile, print long ago ceased to be ACM’s “main profit center”; revenue from digital offerings far exceeds revenue from print. In any case, it is increasingly difficult to make a financial case for continuing print. For a number of publications, the print side must be subsidized, mainly to satisfy a dwindling set of library customers. Finally, ACM does offer electronic-only subscriptions to individual titles. Members and non-members alike are able to buy print-only subscriptions, electronic-only subscriptions, or print+electronic subscriptions to individual titles.

Bernard Rous, ACM electronic Publishing Program director, New York

Communications welcomes your opinion. To submit a Letter to the Editor, please limit your comments to 500 words or less and send to [e-mail].

© 2009 ACM 0001-0782/09/0900 $10.00

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