Publishers mobilize against US research proposal

LONDON (Reuters) - Scientific and scholarly publishers including John Wiley and Reed Elsevier are launching an offensive against newly proposed U.S. legislation that would require them to make much of their research available for free within six months of publication.

The proposal from two U.S. lawmakers opens a new front in a mounting global push to make taxpayer-funded research more widely accessible in what is a potential threat to publishers' business models.

Publishers collectively invest hundreds of millions of dollars to publish and disseminate peer-reviewed journals and make profits by selling print and online subscriptions -- and sometimes individual articles -- for up to hundreds of dollars a year.

"Mandating that journal articles be made freely available on government Web sites so soon after their publication will be a powerful disincentive for publishers to continue these substantial investments," Brian Crawford, chairman of the professional publishers' trade group, said on Tuesday.