Received today (from publiclibraryofscience.org).
Jim Till
University of Toronto
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 22:43:16 -0800
From: Public Library of Science Initiative <post_at_publiclibraryofscience.org>
Reply-To: feedback_at_publiclibraryofscience.org
Subject: Please tell your colleagues about Public Library of Science
As of February 25, more than four thousand scientists from 91
countries have joined you in signing the open letter in support of
the Public Library of Science initiative. As a result of this
initiative, several scientific publishers have already decided to
adopt the policy advocated in the open letter, and almost every
publisher and scientific society is discussing it. Yet, most life
scientists are still unaware of this initiative, and many of those
who do know of its existence have a distorted view of the proposal
and its purpose.
The breadth and depth of support for this initiative from the
scientific community will determine its success. We believe that with
your help in informing your colleagues about this effort, and
encouraging them to support it, the open letter can be published in
May with the signatures of 50,000 scientists.
To achieve this goal, we each need to reach out to at least ten of
our colleagues. We would therefore like to ask you to consider two
steps:
1. Send an email message to all the scientific colleagues in your
address book (using the text attached at the bottom of this message,
or a modified version of it, or use your own language).
2. Spend an hour or two of your time in the next week talking to
colleagues at your own and other institutions, explaining to them the
reasons that you chose to support the initiative, and encouraging
them to join you in signing the letter. (Let them know that they can
sign the letter online at:
http://www.publiclibraryofscience.org).
Please also make a special effort to talk directly with the editors
and publishers of journals that are important to you, informing them
of your support of this initiative, and encouraging them to adopt the
policy that the letter advocates. We would greatly appreciate hearing
about any such efforts you are able to make.
Your time and effort can make the crucial difference in the success
of this initiative.
Sincerely,
Michael Ashburner, University of Cambridge
Patrick O. Brown, Stanford University
Mary Case, Association of Research Libraries
Michael B. Eisen, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and UC Berkeley
Lee Hartwell, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Marc Kirschner, Harvard University
Chaitan Khosla, Stanford University
Roel Nusse, Stanford University
Richard J. Roberts, New England Biolabs
Matthew Scott, Stanford University
Harold Varmus, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Barbara Wold, Caltech
========= Model email message to send to colleagues =========
Dear Colleague,
We write to ask for your support of an initiative to provide
unrestricted access to the published record of scientific research.
An open letter in support of this initiative has been signed by more
than 4,500 scientists from 91 countries. We hope you will take a
minute to read the letter and consider signing it.
The open letter, a list of the scientists who have already signed it,
and some answers to frequently asked questions are posted at:
http://www.publiclibraryofscience.org. This site also provides a way
for colleagues to sign the open letter online.
You may also wish to read an editorial written by Richard J. Roberts,
recently published in PNAS, which explains why he supports the
initiative (
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/041601398v1).
This is a grassroots initiative, and the breadth and depth of support
it receives from the scientific community will determine its success.
If you decide to support this effort, please consider spending an
hour or two of your time in the next week talking to colleagues at
your own and other institutions, explaining to them the reasons that
you chose to support it, and encouraging them to join you in signing
the letter. Your effort can really make a difference.
===
Received on Wed Jan 03 2001 - 19:17:43 GMT