Knowledge Ownership
Monday, August 30, 2004
Who should own medical knowledge
We are part of a grassroots movement of doctors and researchers who believe that medical research results should be a freely available public resource. Governments worldwide invest billions of dollars in medical research every year�the National Institutes of Health in the United States will alone spend $28bn (�15bn; �23bn) in the fiscal year 2004,2 yet the results largely remain in private hands, locked behind access fees and restrictions.
Why is it so urgent to unlock this treasury of knowledge? Taxpayers deserve free access to the results of research that they have financed. Patients have the right to know the results of studies in which they participated and which are relevant to their condition. Researchers should be able to share knowledge to promote more efficient scientific progress�the Human Genome Project (www.nhgri.nih.gov) is a great example of what can be achieved when researchers worldwide can freely share their data. And giving health workers in developing countries access to reliable health information may be the single most cost effective and achievable strategy for sustainable improvement in health care.
Medical and scientific publishing companies, however, are reluctant to free their articles, which make them about $7bn a year.4 Subscription prices outpace inflation again and again, and many medical libraries have had to cut back on titles. Between 1990 and 2000, medical journal subscription prices rose by 184%.
Open Access — laura
