I was just reading this really nicely balanced and argued piece entitled Kicking the Door Stop on Open Access and thought that I would share it with you. I was wondering just why it was so well written and reasonable in tone so I stopped to read the bio of the author, Rick Weiss, only to find that he is used to be the science and medicine lead reporter for the Washington Post for fifteen years, which explains a lot! I particularly liked his closing comment:

“The open access system is in place, on a limited scale. I say, “Let the experiment go on.” It’s a great opportunity to see if it works. And it’s a great inspiration for ink-and-paper publishers to start thinking about more modern ways to continue to profit in the inevitably lucrative business of onpassing new scientific findings”.