Am Physiological Society jnl Physiological Genomics goes open access

[Jan Velterop <jan@biomedcentral.com>]

Readers of this list may have noticed the full page ad in The Scientist
(Vol 17, no 12, June 16, 2003, page 37) announcing "An Open Access choice
for authors of Physiological Genomics". What this means is that starting 1
July, authors can choose to pay $1500 to have their article immediately
and permanently accessible online without charge. Copyright, however,
seems to remain with the journal. So not quite 'true' Open Access
according to our definition (see below), but clearly a welcome step in the
right direction. Let's hope many more journals will follow.

Web site says it has an average of 128 hits per article per month. If the
BioMed Central experience is anything to go by, open access articles in
Physiological Genomics can expect a subtantially expanded visibility.

Jan Velterop
BioMed Central (www.biomedcentral.com)
The Scientist ( www.the-scientist.com)

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Every peer-reviewed research article appearing in any journal published by
BioMed Central is 'open access', meaning that:

o The article is universally and freely accessible via the Internet, in an
easily readable format and deposited immediately upon publication, without
embargo, in an agreed format - current preference is XML with a declared
DTD - in at least one widely and internationally recognized open access
repository (such as PubMed Central).

o The author(s) or copyright owner(s) irrevocably grant(s) to any third
party, in advance and in perpetuity, the right to use, reproduce or
disseminate the research article in its entirety or in part, in any format
or medium, provided that no substantive errors are introduced in the
process, proper attribution of authorship and correct citation details are
given, and that the bibliographic details are not changed. If the article
is reproduced or disseminated in part, this must be clearly and
unequivocally indicated.