Free and easy: scientific publishing, open access style | Stephen Pincock

"As someone who writes about scientific research and for scientific journals, I find the world of science publishing pretty interesting. Journals are where our understanding of the world builds, one article at a time. Over the past decade or two, one of the most interesting aspects of that little world has been the push to make research “open access” — available free online, to anyone. Open access stands in contrast to the model that had evolved over the previous couple of hundred years, based on publishing research in scientific journals that charge for access. The charges help cover the costs of editing, reviewing, publishing and distributing the papers (with a very tidy profit left over). In the wired world, open access supporters say this model hinders the spread of knowledge. In recent years, a number of publishers that work on an open access model have emerged, and it is starting to feel very much like this is the beginning of a major shift. The journal Nature asked me to write an article on the implications of all this for academics wondering where they should publish their work. In classic fashion, I over-researched the story. Finding disinterested observers wasn’t easy; everybody had a viewpoint. And there are a LOT of interesting innovations going on. The editing process was intensive to say the least, but luckily the editors at Nature knew what they were about and I’m very happy with the result. The original is here, along with other excellent articles on open access ..."