We’ve had numerous articles over the years concerning the rise of “open access” scientific
journals, which focus on making the research they publish openly available (usually
online) to anyone who wants it, rather than the more traditional method of going through
ridiculously expensive journals. This movement has certainly gained plenty of steam in
the past fast years, even as many of the traditional publishers have done everything
possible to fight it.
However, as SteveD points out to us, last week one of the big traditional publishers,
Springer Science+Business Media acquired one of the more successful open access journals, BioMed
Central, which has shown that it’s possible to be an open access journal and
profitable at the same time (wonders never cease). The author of the article notes,
correctly, that it would certainly be a good thing if the old-line journals are finally
recognizing that open access journals are an important and profitable part of scientific
discussion, rather than just fighting them at every turn.
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