DC Principless' petition

[Walker@lists.yale.edu, Thomas J <tjw.--.ufl.edu@lists.yale.edu>]

This item appeared in a recent issue of the e-newsletter of one 
of the scientific societies to which I belong. (XXX replaces the 
name of the society.

Petition in Support of Society Publishers

XXX is a member of the Washington DC Principles Coalition for 
Free Access to Science, which is a coalition of not-for-profit 
publishers that supports providing free public access to 
published research findings in their journals. The coalition is 
opposed to government mandated requirements of when and where 
journal access must be provided, such as the current NIH mandate 
to have all accepted NIH-funded manuscripts posted on PubMed 
Central. There is a petition on the DC Principles Coalition 
website for people to sign to express support for scientific 
society publishers. As we move into 2009 and the new Congress, DC 
Principles member organizations want to draw attention to the 
petition and to encourage their own society members to sign on to 
it. At some point in time during the coming year, the coalition 
will point to the number of people who support its mission. 
Please take a minute to read this short petition and add your 
name in support of XXX and the DC Principles coalition.

[The item links to the petition 
(http://www.dcprinciples.org/DCPS_PETITION/DCPS_PETITION/Petition.aspx) 
in its title and in its last sentence.]

I was dismayed at the item and am protesting these examples:

(1) "XXX is a member of the Washington DC Principles Coalition 
for Free Access to Science...."

("Coalition" is not part of the organization's name.)

(2) "The coalition is opposed to government mandated requirements 
of when and where journal access must be provided, such as the 
current NIH mandate ...."

(As indicated at the end of the same sentence, the NIH mandate 
pertains to access to specific accepted manuscripts, not access 
to journals.)

(3) "Please take a minute to read this short petition and add 
your name in support of XXX and the DC Principles coalition."

(The majority of the members of XXX, or of its governing board, 
would probably not agree that advocating the repeal of the NIH 
mandate supports XXX.)

I post this to inform the list of the petition and to ask if 
anyone knows of similar examples of society members being asked 
to sign it.

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Thomas J. Walker
Department of Entomology & Nematology
PO Box 110620 (or Natural Area Drive)
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-0620
E-mail: tjw@ufl.edu
FAX: (352)392-0190
Web: http://tjwalker.ifas.ufl.edu
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