Open Access For Research Gaining Steam

An anonymous reader writes "The BBC reports that open access to research is gaining steam as more than 20,000 people, including Nobel Prize winners, have signed a petition calling for greater access to publicly-funded research. While publishers are fighting open access, a growing number of funding agencies and universities are making it a mandatory requirement."

Re:On the one hand...

[lukesl]

I agree about the library idea, but on top of that what I've always wanted to see would be a slashdot-style discussion board for every paper hosted by pubmed, where there could be discussion (anonymous or not) of every paper that comes out. People could post problems they have with the paper, the authors could respond, and anyone involved could read it. It would be a tremendous educational tool, and also I think it would expose a lot of the subtle points (good or bad) in a paper that only people in that particular sub-sub-field would know about.