National Academies Press makes reports available for free

Early this month, the National Academies Press, which publishes National Research Council reports like this recent one on America’s Climate Choices, announced that it will make all pdf versions of its publications available for free downloads. Anyone who does research on environmental science or policy (among other topics) should be happy to hear this news. NRC reports are often key sources of “consensus” scientific opinion and/or important documents at the interface of science and policy. In the past some pdfs have been free, but it’s been hit or miss. There has always been an on-line reading function, but it’s so cumbersome as to be nearly useless. If you want a hard copy for your library you’ll still have to buy it, but at least now you can read it first to see if it’s worth the price.

National Research Council