Push Button For Open Access

Two medical students are helping to turn the dream of making scientific research papers freely accessible into a reality, using the internet of course

Some say the meek will inherit the earth but in fact it will be the young. More especially, those young people who know their way around computer technology and who have sparks of imagination and creativity.

We have see this already among independent music and film makers and the bright young things who founded the computer companies and internet businesses that have changed the world. That change is also enveloping the business of scholarly publishing, where the 350 year old practice of distributing research results in journals printed on paper is disappearing fast. It’s not just that research is appearing on screens instead of the printed page — the whole approach to the dissemination of information is being transformed. Rather than charging readers for access, through a dysfunctional market that generates rich pickings for large publishing corporations off the back of unsustainable prices rises, the move now is to lever the power of the internet to facilitate free or open access for readers.