DeepDyve Launches iTunes Store-like Service for Science Papers
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Today, a company called DeepDyve launched the largest online rental service for scientific papers, which allows users to rent any article for just 99 cents. Journal articles currently trend toward the obscene ($30 or more), unless you’re the lucky dude with a password for a university library. DeepDyve saw an opening in the market and made deals with major scientific publishers to stock 30 million (and growing) articles of tech, med, and scientific interest.

DeepDyve is part of a greater trend of getting scientific info back to the hardworking taxpayers who funded it.

Just last year, the National Institutes of Health decreed that NIH-supported research had to be published free to everyone within a year of journal publication. And although DeepDyve isn’t always free, it’s improves access.

So far, they seem to be the only major player on the scene. “A fragmented universe of discombobulated, unorganized junk is our competitor,” CEO William Park told Popsci.com in an interview.

DeepDyve’s unique search algorithm can handle up to 20,000 characters. That means you can plug in a paragraph — heck, an entire page — and see what comes up. You can see the first page for free, and rent any article for 99 cents for 24 hours. (Or pay a monthly fee to hold onto them.) The one catch? The Flash interface doesn’t allow printing, and makes even taking screenshots difficult.

Curious? Check it out here and let me know what you think.