On Opening up Science and Academic Literature | Vincent of Earth, The Blog Of

"With the continued proliferation of the ideals of “open science”, we face some very important questions that must be answered along the way, not afterwards. Open science basically says that knowledge should be as available as possible. That’s a great tenet, and not exactly a new idea. More and more, publishers such as universities, governments, firms, and even companies like Microsoft are opening up their research to the public. That is one way of achieving a scientific portfolio open for all: to continue with the traditional process of doing research, getting it peer-reviewed, and making it public after being inside pay-wall type mediums like journals, or retaining certain rights to it. Another approach, one that you might be familiar with if you use Academia.edu, is to create a sort of social network where people can post their papers and make it freely available for everyone. Just put it out there. But the basic foundation of this way of doing things entails a certain flaw that must be discussed...."