Some potential unintended consequences from open access publication

[A letter to the editor. Scroll to the second-to-last letter.]

"The increasing move to OAP is ‘a train that has left the station’, and it is justified by the moral need to share research and expertise as quickly as possible and with as many as possible. However, we need to ensure that journals will continue to publish unfunded research, because if we don’t, this will stymie clinical curiosity. It may also result in many of us not being able to share important lessons that are not generated by funded research. Finally, the change to the author paying for publication, and not the subscriber, must not compromise quality."