Robert E. Mrak and W. Sue T. Griffin, Welcome to the Journal of Neuroinflammation 1, 1 (20 April 2004). The authors introduce their new open access journal, hosted on BioMed Central and dealing with "innate immunological responses of the central nervous system." Mrak and Griffin also outline their rationale for open access publishing:
Open Access has four broad benefits for science and the general public. First, authors are assured that
their work is disseminated to the widest possible audience, given that there are no barriers to access
their work. This is accentuated by the authors being free to reproduce and distribute their work, for
example by placing it on their institution's website. It has been suggested that free online articles are
more highly cited because of their easier availability. Second, the information available to
researchers will not be limited by their library’s budget, and the widespread availability of articles will
enhance literature searching. Third, the results of publicly funded research will be accessible to
all taxpayers and not just those with access to a library with a subscription. As such, Open Access
could help to increase public interest in, and support of, research. Note that this public accessibility
may become a legal requirement in the USA if the proposed Public Access to Science Act is made law
. Fourth, a country's economy will not influence its scientists' ability to access articles because
resource-poor countries (and institutions) will be able to read the same material as wealthier ones
(although creating access to the internet is another matter).
(Source: George Porter, SPARC Open Access Forum)
Posted by
Garrett at 4/22/2004 10:46:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
