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Open Access to Scientific Research: Why and How?

All scientists, without exception, publish their research findings in peer-reviewed journals without asking for any royalty or fee in return. They want only to make their work accessible to all its would-be users worldwide (and not only those whose institutions can afford to subscribe to the journal in which it is published), so they can read, use, apply and cite it, to advance scientific progress. This distinguishes scientific article-authors from the providers of other kinds of content (books, software, music, video) who may not all wish to give away their work. The solution for scientists is to supplement paid journal access to their articles with free online access by self-archiving a copy in their own institutional Open Access Archive. Ninety-two percent of journals have already given their authors the green light to do so, hence a Creative Commons license -- though always welcome if it can be agreed with the publisher -- is not necessary for the published version in most cases (although it may be useful for the pre-peer-review preprint).

Prof. Dr. Stevan Harnad, University of Southampton, Cognitive Sciences Centre (CSC); Université du Québec à Montréal, Centre de neuroscience de la cognition (CNC)