Public access to publicly funded research

"American taxpayers funnel more than $28 billion annually into medical research," but often have had to subscribe to expensive journals (paying twice) if they want access that research.

Congress has mandated that as of April 7th, all NIH-sponsored research be made freely available on the federal PubMed database. Other institutions are advocating for even more avenues of public access.

This Wall Street Journal article (03/07/08) also asks questions about how this more public model will impact the traditional peer-review process that plays "a key role in the way scholars achieve tenure and prestige." The added benefits...

"The dissemination of knowledge is almost as crucial as the production of it for the creation of wealth, and knowledge (like people) can't reproduce in isolation...The infrastructure that produces this work is surely one of America's greatest competitive advantages."