Tracey Brown et al., Peer Review and the acceptance of new scientific ideas, Sence About Science, June 24, 2004. A thorough exploration of peer review, particularly to help the public understand the process and learn to ask the right questions about controversial research results. For brief overviews, see the publisher's announcement and press release. The report endorses open access in several ways. For example, when "commercially generated scientific findings" must be disclosed prior to peer review, e.g. to prevent insider trading, then they should be accompanied by open-access data files to help researchers assess the reported findings (pp. xii, 28). OA journals may change the way they manage peer review but will not change the principle of peer review (p. 21). Self-archiving has created a new outlet for peer-reviewed articles (pp. 21-22). "Open Access may even increase the extent to which science is self-corrective because all qualified experts will be able to access all published papers" (p. 22).
Posted by
Peter Suber at 7/17/2004 09:48:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
