[Insight-developers] PNAS Open Access Option

[Luis Ibanez]

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/101/23/8509

PNAS: Proceeding of the US National Academy of Science.


"A revolution is taking place in scientific publishing.
  To leverage the tremendous advantages of electronic
  publishing and the Internet, journals such as PNAS are
  making the scientific literature more freely available
  online than ever before"

    Nicholar Cozzarelli, Editor-in-Chief PNAS.



New Open Access options:
http://www.pnas.org/subscriptions/open-access.shtml


"PNAS and NIH Public Access

   PNAS complies with the NIH public access policy and
   extends access even further. PNAS automatically deposits
   the final, published version of all its content, regardless
   of funding, in PubMed Central (PMC) and makes it free at
   both PMC and PNAS just 6 months after publication."


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"Why do this experiment? We believe that all journals should strive to
give everyone, everywhere, immediate access to the scientific
literature. The open access option gets us part way to this ideal
without exposing us to substantial financial risk. Additionally, we hope
that if PNAS takes a leadership role regarding open access, other
journals will be encouraged to follow. There is also a practical reason
for implementing such an option. A small but growing group of scientists
will publish only in open-access journals. Open access resonates
particularly with young scientists. We do not want to lose the
opportunity of publishing the important work of these researchers, and
we want to provide an established journal in which they can publish."

"What do I see as the likely outcome of the experiment? Surely, open
access will become increasingly important, but authors cannot bear the
whole cost. Some hybrid model for meeting the costs of publishing the
journal is needed. For PNAS, the income might be from author charges,
subscriptions for the print journal, foundation and grant support,
advertisements, and institutional support. I think that the critical
step is gaining institutional support. This support might be in the form
of sponsorships that could give a discount on author costs or print
subscriptions for an institution. Institutional support of journal
publishing has always been important and generally has taken the form of
subscription funds in the library budget. Universities and companies are
recognizing the benefits to them of open access and are beginning to
support open access journals such as the Public Library of Science's
PLoS Biology and BioMed Central's journals. It is critical, too, for the
major granting agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and
the National Science Foundation to embrace open access."

               Nicholar Cozzarelli, Editor-in-Chief PNAS.