Showing papers by "J. Leo van Hemmen published in 2015"

My science, right or wrong!

Abstract: Slightly before 1820, in an after-dinner toast, a USNavy officer coined the slogan “My country, right or wrong!” It has been in use ever since—up to the present day. G.K. Chesterton cynically commented, nearly a century later, that “My country, right or wrong” is a thing that no patriot would think of saying. It is like saying, “My mother, drunk or sober.” A paraphrase of this rallying cry has insinuated itself into the minds of some scientists: My science, right or wrong! Like its predecessor, this one contains the samemalicious idea and appears to be well on its way to being realized. Why is that and what is it good for? A while ago, say around 2000, spurred by an equally unbounded profit desire of some commercial publishers, the open-access movement was launched. Its key idea sounds very appealing and natural. In general, government, as a representative of the general public, finances scientific research. Thus, it follows, scientific results should be freely accessible to everybody. Let us pause for a minute and consider the implications of this belief. Two words demand our scrutiny here: freely and everybody. What does free mean? Even public libraries are hardly ever free. If they formally are,meaning their services and materials come at no added cost to users, as in the USA, then it is because they are directly supported by tax dollars. Borrowing books from a library or reading the journals it subscribes to requires direct or indirect payment since no library can operate for free and since no publisher