Three Frontiers in Open Access Scholarship

Abstract

There are three important frontiers in moving from subscription-based scholarly publications to delivery of scholarly works to readers without charge via the Internet. First are automated archives of preprints and post prints that do not require formal editorial review before posting. The arXiv service, now at Cornell, is emblematic of this frontier. (arXiv, 2004) Second are the quality-assured journals that are distributed on an open-access basis. The Public Library of Science initiative in launching journals in biology and medicine is emblematic of the second frontier. (Public Library of Science, 2004) Third are open access indices to the scholarly literature. Google Scholar, launched in beta version in November 2004, is emblematic of this frontier.(Google, 2004) Each frontier advances the prospect that the best scholarship will be readily available to all via the Internet. Our goal here is to identify where each frontier is today and how it may evolve.