Endless mysteries lurk in the depths of space. To pare the list down to eight—now, there’s a challenge

A new method is pulling the rug out from journal editors: open access publishing.  These “author pays” systems allow everyone to read the paper without a subscription.  The success of arXiv, Public Library of Science and other open-access sites is putting pressure on the traditional print journals to join the bandwagon or get left behind.  Why pay when readers can get good science for free?  Who owns research, anyway?  Much research is government-funded.  Why should readers pay a for-profit company to read what their tax dollars have paid for?  Even if an individual author has to pay for the privilege of publication, he or she can do it, or can get the institution to do it.  Government funding can still foot the bill.  But now, everyone in the world can read it.

Nature addressed this situation in its editorial today (Nature, 486, 28 June 2012, p. 439, doi:10.1038/486439a).  Surprisingly, the editors are in favor of open access.  Maybe they realize trends are leaving them no other option.  They are starting to look like those evil, self-seeking corporations everyone demonizes because they appear greedy for profit:

• Nature addressed this situation in its editorial today (Nature, 486, 28 June 2012, p. 439, doi:10.1038/486439a).  Surprisingly, the editors are in favor of open access.  Maybe they realize trends are leaving them no other option.  They are starting to look like those evil, self-seeking corporations everyone demonizes because they appear greedy for profit:

• Publishers in such an environment will need all the more to demonstrate that they add value to the research process. This sits alongside their need to deliver a reasonable profit — whether to fund learned-society activities or to reduce their publishing charges (the aim of the Public Library of Science) or, like many suppliers of services and equipment to researchers, to deliver a return to their investors. The perception of publishers as profiteers is strong, and understanding of the value they add is weak. Not noted for their transparency, publishers will have to work hard to develop trust amid a fundamental shift in their customer base.

In the same issue, Nature published the opinion of Geoffrey Boulton, who is also strongly in favor of open access (“Open your minds and share your results,” Nature News, Jan 27, 2012).  He not only wants open access publishing; he wants open data, and openness to the public:

• In the same issue, Nature published the opinion of Geoffrey Boulton, who is also strongly in favor of open access (“Open your minds and share your results,” Nature News, Jan 27, 2012).  He not only wants open access publishing; he wants open data, and openness to the public:

• We also need to be open towards fellow citizens. The massive impact of science on our collective and individual lives has decreased the willingness of many to accept the pronouncements of scientists unless they can verify the strength of the underlying evidence for themselves. The furor surrounding ‘Climategate’ — rooted in the resistance of climate scientists to accede to requests from members of the public for data underlying some of the claims of climate science — was in part a motivation for the Royal Society’s current report. It is vital that science is not seen to hide behind closed laboratory doors, but engages seriously with the public.

He continued, “Everyone will benefit from a more open approach.”  There are challenges, for sure; how to make abstruse data intelligible to the public, and how to solve issues about confidentiality, costs, and discoverer’s priority.  Judging from scientist comments, though, there’s a strong feeling that it’s about time.  One researcher who benefited from open access to the arXiv database said, “it remains an important venue for exploration of alternatives to that quaint atavism pre-publication peer review – a bottleneck whose justification would be further reduced if the supporting data were itself freely available.”

• He continued, “Everyone will benefit from a more open approach.”  There are challenges, for sure; how to make abstruse data intelligible to the public, and how to solve issues about confidentiality, costs, and discoverer’s priority.  Judging from scientist comments, though, there’s a strong feeling that it’s about time.  One researcher who benefited from open access to the arXiv database said, “it remains an important venue for exploration of alternatives to that quaint atavism pre-publication peer review – a bottleneck whose justification would be further reduced if the supporting data were itself freely available.”

It’s the transparency issue that holds the greatest potential for a change in science publishing.  How did journal editors decide what research merits publication?  How were reviewers picked?  That lack of transparency, that perpetuation of status-quo science has long been the complaint of many “maverick” scientists who felt stymied by consensus.  Open access may change that dramatically.  Now, they may have a solution in open-access publication, where the reviewers are the public, the research is public, and scientists around the world can engage in the critique.

• It’s the transparency issue that holds the greatest potential for a change in science publishing.  How did journal editors decide what research merits publication?  How were reviewers picked?  That lack of transparency, that perpetuation of status-quo science has long been the complaint of many “maverick” scientists who felt stymied by consensus.  Open access may change that dramatically.  Now, they may have a solution in open-access publication, where the reviewers are the public, the research is public, and scientists around the world can engage in the critique.