A hybrid open-access model to bridge the publishing divide and reach out to a broader community

"JAMIA [Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association] utilizes a hybrid, “delayed open-access” model. In this model, all articles are made freely available after one year of publication, but authors have the option to remove the one-year embargo (and thus have their articles become “open-access” immediately) by paying a fee. For JAMIA, the “author-pays” fee is optional and lower than the fee charged by many popular open-access journals. Subscriptions cover the costs for all other articles. By offering two options, JAMIA allows authors who do not have resources to pay the publishing fees to still have their work appear in the journal. I strongly subscribe to the principle of publishing articles of merit, regardless of the author's ability to pay, and hence I view this model as the one that better suits the journal at present...."