Publishing: Open to possibilities : Naturejobs

Use the link to access the full text article published in Nature.  The article opens as follows: "Not so long ago, Mike Taylor gave no thought to open access when submitting research papers for publication. 'I just sent them to the well-respected journals,' says Taylor, a palaeontologist at the University of Bristol, UK. 'It's only gradually, really, that it became apparent to me how stupid that was.' As he started to think more carefully about where he published his work, his contemplation turned into fully fledged advocacy. Taylor would like to see free, unrestricted access to all scholarly papers online. In an article on the website of UK newspaper The Guardian this January, he argued that hiding publications behind a paywall is “immoral” (see go.nature.com/v9fmtm). But within hours of appearing, the article was accumulating comments that laid out caveats that he had not considered. The point that raised the most ire was Taylor's argument that scientists no longer need to publish in prestigious journals to boost their careers, which commenters vigorously refuted. Taylor was forced to rethink his position on that: journal prestige remains important, he realized. I got quite a lot of criticism from people I respect a lot,' he says. Early-career scientists face a pressing question: how should they publish to advance their careers at a time when the scholarly world is being shaken up? ..."