Does Your University Support Open-Access Publishing?

"I’m very impressed that several large academic institutions are stepping up to support open access publishing. Why is this important? One part of the disconnect between science and the public exists because the science community traditionally tells our stories in journals that very few people outside of academia can gain access to. So when universities encourage open-access publication (especially given the economic downturn), science becomes more accessible. By signing the compact for open-access publishing equity, the barriers of open-access publication are reduced so that more articles are made freely available without an expensive journal subscription. On top of that, the research reaches more readers than it would if it were caught behind a paywall. So when students and faculty choose to publish in open-access journals like PLoS, their institutions will reimburse the publication fee, which can be thousands of dollars...."