Inaugural Issue of PLoS Biology Provides Free Access to Top-tierBiology Research

[Ann Okerson <aokerson@pantheon.yale.edu>]

For immediate release
October 9, 2003

For more information, contact:
Judith Matz
202-296-2296
<judith@arl.org>

ORGANIZATIONS LAUD INNOVATIVE OPEN-ACCESS PUBLISHING VENTURE 
Inaugural Issue of PLoS Biology Provides Free Access to Top-tier Biology
Research

October 8, 2003 -- A coalition of major library and public interest
organizations praised the October 13 premier of the first "open access"
journal published by the San Francisco-based Public Library of Science
(PLoS), a non-profit organization of scientists and physicians. PLoS
Biology <http://biology.plosjournals.org/>, a monthly peer-reviewed
journal available free online, features research of exceptional
significance, including several groundbreaking articles that recently have
received extensive coverage in the worldwide news media.

PLoS is employing a new model for scientific publishing in which research
articles are freely available to read and use through the Internet. The
costs of publication are recovered not from subscription fees�which limit
information access and use�but from publication fees paid by authors out
of their grant funds and from other sources.

Organizations voicing their support for PLoS include the American
Association of Law Libraries, Association of Academic Health Sciences
Libraries, Association of College and Research Libraries, Association of
Research Libraries, Medical Library Association, Open Society Institute,
Public Knowledge, and SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources
Coalition). Several of these organizations have been actively promoting
alternatives to subscription-based journal publishing.

"PLoS has captured the imagination of scientists around the globe," said
James G. Neal, Vice President for Information Services at Columbia
University and Chairman of SPARC. "The support it has garnered from
leaders in biomedical research make it a potent symbol of the opportunity
we have today to share scientific findings and propel innovation. The
networked digital environment allows PLoS and similar initiatives to
sustain the best features of traditional journal publishing but without
perpetuating barriers to access and use. This is a milestone in the
advancement of scholarly communication."

PLoS is supported by a large group of the world's leading scientists,
including Nobel Laureate James Watson, Susan Lindquist, E.O. Wilson, and
Kai Simons. A team of leading scientists serve as academic editors and an
experienced professional staff operate the venture. Start-up costs for
PLoS are being supported by a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore
Foundation.

"Unlimited access to scientific research will speed discoveries and
medical advances, as it has in the cases of the Human Genome Project and
SARS," said Harold Varmus, co-founder and chairman of the board of PLoS.
"The speed at which these projects advanced science and, more importantly,
saved lives is testament to the equation that drives the Public Library of
Science -- multiply knowledge by access and you can really accelerate
progress." Varmus is a Nobel prize winner, President of Memorial
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and former director of the National
Institutes of Health.

PLoS is one of several initiatives that promote open access to scientific
and medical literature. Although they still represent only a fraction of
the published research literature, many open-access journals have been
launched. BioMed Central <http://www.biomedcentral.com/> is a commercial
publisher of original research papers using an open-access model. The
Directory of Open Access Journals <http://www.doaj.org> identifies 540
peer-reviewed open-access journals in wide-ranging scholarly and
scientific fields. There are also groups, such as the Open Society
Institute <http://www.soros.org/openaccess/> and SPARC
<http://www.arl.org/sparc/> that are providing support and advocacy for
open-access publishing.

Backing for this new publishing model is growing, particularly in
biomedical fields, where high journal subscription charges limit access by
physicians, researchers, and individual members of the public. Recently
the Howard Hughes Medical Institute <http://www.hhmi.org/> and the
Wellcome Trust <http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/en/1/awtvispolpub.html>, major
private funders of biomedical research in the U.S. and U.K. respectively,
announced that they will earmark funds to pay open-access publication fees
as part of their grants.

According to Vivian Siegel, PLoS Executive Director, "Our goal is to make
the scientific and medical literature a freely accessible resource. But
the literature is huge, and we cannot do it all by ourselves. Using the
success of our own journals as a template, we hope to encourage other
publishers to adopt the open-access model."

# # #
The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) is a nonprofit
educational organization dedicated to providing leadership and advocacy
in the field of legal information and information policy. AALL�s more
than 5,000 members respond to the legal information needs of
legislators, judges and other public officials, corporations and small
businesses, law professors and students, attorneys, and members of the
general public. <www.aallnet.org>

The Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL) is
composed of the directors of libraries of 142 accredited U. S. and
Canadian medical schools belonging to the Association of American
Medical Colleges. AAHSL's goals are to promote excellence in academic
health science libraries and to ensure that the next generation of
health practitioners is trained in information seeking skills that
enhance the quality of health care delivery, education, and research. <www.aahsl.org/>

The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of
the American Library Association (ALA), is a professional association of
academic librarians and other interested individuals. ACRL currently has
a membership of approximately 12,400, accounting for nearly 20 percent
of the total ALA membership. ACRL provides a broad range of professional
services and programs for a diverse membership. <www.ala.org/acrl>

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization
of 124 research libraries in North America. ARL programs and services
promote equitable access to and effective use of recorded knowledge in
support of teaching, research, scholarship, and community service. <www.arl.org>

The Medical Library Association (MLA) is a nonprofit educational
organization of more than 900 institutions and 3,800 individual members
in the health sciences information field committed to educating health
information professionals, supporting health information research,
promoting access to the world's health sciences information, and working
to ensure that the best health information is available to all.

The Open Society Institute (OSI) is a private operating and grant-making
foundation established in 1993 by investor and philanthropist George
Soros. It develops and implements a range of programs in civil society,
education, media, public health and human and women�s rights, as well as
social, legal, and economic reform. <www.soros.org/openaccess>

Public Knowledge is a public-interest advocacy organization dedicated to
fortifying and defending a vibrant information commons. This Washington,
D.C. based group works with wide spectrum of stakeholders -- libraries,
educators, scientists, artists, musicians, journalists, consumers,
software programmers, civic groups and enlightened businesses -- to
promote the core conviction that some fundamental democratic principles
and cultural values�openness, access, and the capacity to create and
compete -- must be given new embodiment in the digital age. <www.publicknowledge.org>

SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) is an
initiative of universities, research libraries, and library
organizations to correct dysfunctions in the scholarly publishing
marketplace that have constrained the dissemination of scholarship and
crippled libraries. SPARC publishing partnerships and educational
activities demonstrate publishing models that expand information
dissemination in a networked digital environment while responding to the
needs of scholars and academe. <www.arl.org/sparc>

********************************
Judith Matz
Communications Officer
Association of Research Libraries
21 Dupont Circle, NW  #800
Washington, DC  20036-1118
Phone  202-296-2296
Fax  202-872-0884
judith@arl.org