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Policy

SciFinder not affordable

March 13, 2006 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 84, Issue 11

I find Janice Mears's letter extolling the virtues of SciFinder a bit disingenuous (C&EN, Dec. 12, 2005, page 4). The database is wonderfully useful if you can afford it! In contrast to the progenitor Chemical Abstracts, which is freely available in university libraries, access to SciFinder is strictly limited by license agreements to enrolled students, faculty, and staff. Of course, you can purchase access, but the fees are prohibitive for small companies. At the same time, the paper version of Chemical Abstracts is becoming less and less accessible.

As an employee of a small contract synthesis concern, I am hamstrung by having less access to the literature now than I did 20 years ago. And this is at a time when foreign competition is severely affecting domestic employment. I don't expect to be able to have SciFinder at my desk, but I would think that I could have it available at a major university library.

Jonathan N. Kremsky
Arlington, Mass.

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