Open access approach to medical research publishing will continue to grow, experts predict

"Experts in publishing who were giving evidence to the [UK] parliamentary science and technology select committee on 23 May said that the approach used by Public Library of Science (PLoS) One...was being increasingly adopted by other organisations. PLoS One and others such as the BMJ, which had followed its example, were speeding up research and enabling more research to be published, MPs were told as part of their inquiry into peer review....[Quoting Mark Patterson, director of publishing for PLoS:] “It has grown steadily and is gaining ground. In the last 12 months eight or more big publishers have announced, essentially, PLoS One lookalikes. The BMJ Group last year launched a clinical research version of PLoS One..., and Nature has launched a natural science version of PLoS One. The model is getting that level of endorsement from the major publishers. “This approach is beginning to have an effect on the peer review process in terms of timing, quality, and ease of being able to recruit or have access to reviewers.” ..."