Did you know there are "open access" peer reviewed academic journals?

[kristopher]

http://www.mdpi.com/home

Open Access Journals

* Algorithms
* Atmosphere
* Cancers
* Challenges
* Diversity
* Energies
* Entropy
* Forests
* Future Internet
* Games
* Genes
* Information Science and Technology
* International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
* International Journal of Molecular Sciences
* Marine Drugs
* Materials
* Micromachines
* Molbank
* Molecules
* Nutrients
* Pharmaceuticals
* Pharmaceutics
* Polymers
* Remote Sensing
* Sensors
* Sustainability
* Symmetry
* Toxins
* Viruses
* Water



Meaning of Open Access

In MDPI's understanding, which is in accordance with major definitions of Open Access to scientific literature (namely the Budapest, Berlin and Bethesda declarations), Open Access means:

* peer-reviewed literature is freely available without subscription or price barriers,
* literature is immediately released in open access format (no embargo period), and
* published material can be re-used without obtaining permission as long as a correct citation to the original publication is given.

Up to 2008 most articles published by MDPI contained the note "© year by MDPI (http://www.mdpi.org). Reproduction is permitted for noncommercial purposes". During 2008 MDPI journals started to publish articles under the Creative Commons Attribution License. However, all articles published by MDPI before and during 2008 should be considered as released under the same Creative Commons Attribution License since 2008.

This means that all articles published in MDPI journals, including data, graphics and supplements, can be linked from outside in, crawled by search engines, re-used by text mining applications or websites, blogs, etc. free of charge under the sole condition of proper accreditation of the source and original Publisher. MDPI believes that Open Access publishing can foster the exchange of research results amongst scientists from different disciplines, thus facilitating interdisciplinary research, whilst providing access to research results to researchers world-wide, including from developing countries, as well as to an interested general public. Although MDPI publishes all of its journals under the Open Access model, we believe that Open Access is an enriching part of the scholarly communication process that can and should co-exist with other forms of communication and publication, such as society-based publishing and conferencing activities.

Important Note: some articles (especially Reviews) may contain figures, tables or text taken from other publications, for which MDPI does not hold the copyright or the right to re-license the published material. Please note that you should inquire with the original copyright holder (usually the original Publisher or the original authors), if this material can be further re-used.

http://www.mdpi.com/about/openaccess


Please help spread the word.

[Jim__]

1. Looks interesting - thanks for posting. - n/t

[sharp_stick]

2. You can also find a lot of biology/medicine open source

full access journal articles here.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/gquery

Most pubmed journals offer at least some open access and many now offer full access. Type your search terms (Boolean logic allowed) and then look under "Pubmed Central" for the freebies. Most of the other links are also open access such as sequences and 3D domains but a lot of that is pretty specialized.

[mike_c]

3. another one-- PLoS....

Public Library of Science: http://www.plos.org/

[Celebration]

4. Biomed Central for medicine

http://www.biomedcentral.com/browse/journals/

[kristopher]

5. Many thanks to those who added additional sources.

So just to recap; 4 sites offering public access to peer reviewed journals.

http://www.mdpi.com/about/openaccess
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/gquery
http://www.plos.org/
http://www.biomedcentral.com/browse/journals/

[amborin]

6. thanks for the links; however, the sites are fairly

limited; just tried to search for some articles and they do not appear

[kristopher]

8. Yes they are limited.

However, they are better than what we've had previously. There is a push by many researchers - I don't know how strong - to be more active in getting their work in front of the public. Yhe general perception as I see it is that the science press, which formerly was a qualified intermediary, has lost its ability to function as a valid channel for important information to be laid before the public. No one has an answer to the problem precisely, but one view is that electronic publishing should enable direct access by a public that formerly couldn't possibly be expected to broadly have access via the libraries of academic institutions.

Simply put, the feeling I see is that the publishing system should change. I take these sites as evidence that it is. The more they get used and the more the information offered by them makes a positive difference in the world, I believe will mean the more we see researchers seek out these journals in preference to the ones behind an overpriced firewall.

Please, put a couple of interest to you on your regular reading list; you never know what will turn up.

Also - did you check the institution and personal website of the authors of the papers you're looking for? For example:



February 12, 2008
Harvard Faculty Adopts Open-Access Requirement

Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences adopted a policy this evening that requires faculty members to allow the university to make their scholarly articles available free online.

Peter Suber, an open-access activist with Public Knowledge, a nonprofit group in Washington, said on his blog that the new policy makes Harvard the first university in the United States to mandate open access to its faculty members’ research publications.

Stuart M. Shieber, a professor of computer science at Harvard who proposed the new policy, said after the vote in a news release that the decision “should be a very powerful message to the academic community that we want and should have more control over how our work is used and disseminated.”

The new policy will allow faculty members to request a waiver, but otherwise they must provide an electronic form of each article to the provost’s office, which will place it in an online repository.

The policy will allow Harvard authors to publish in any journal that permits posting online after publication. According to Mr. Suber, about two-thirds of pay-access journals allow such posting in online repositories. —Lila Guterman

[amborin]

12. thanks,

for those additional tips; and, it's great these resources are becoming publically available;

[mzteris]

7. my son just made a

presentation on open-access education at the Student Board meeting. (The Student Board where there are reps from each high school in town and they make recommendations to the School Board. ) Of course my son goes to the "alternative school" here in town. The one were all the kids are a bit "quirky" shall we say?

At first the other kids from the "traditional schools" were totally against it - because they didn't understand - but afterward he finished, they realized the merit. Hopefully something will happen at the Board level.

[kristopher]

9. I'm not sure I understand what is involved...

[MilesColtrane]

10. Expect the "Wooo Wooo" of the anti-science emergency squad vehicle at any moment now.

[RainDog]

11. great link! k&r nt