Government agencies can pay page charges

NOV 01, 1955

The Interdepartmental Committee on Scientific Research and Development of the Federal Government has studied the legal propriety and the practical desirability of payment by government agencies of page charges on the research reports submitted by their employees to scientific journals. A subcommittee report, accepted by the full Committee and transmitted by Chairman Alan Astin to the agencies, says in general that government agencies may and should pay such charges. This is especially interesting to physicists because the page‐charge plan was initiated by the American Physical Society and later enlarged and developed by the American Institute of Physics. The report is published herewith, not only because of its general interest but also for the specific information of agencies and their contractors.

DOI: 10.1063/1.3061816

Physics Today

This report has been drawn up on the basis of discussion at a meeting of the Panel on October 19, 1953, to discuss problems in dissemination of scientific information raised by costs of publication of the results of scientific research. This meeting was attended by the following: Helen Brownson (National Science Foundation); Preston Cloud (Geological Survey); Howard Ennes (Public Health Service); J. H. McCormack (Department of Agriculture); and Alberto F. Thompson (Atomic Energy Commission), chairman.

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