Earlier this month the Nature Publishing Group announced a new policy allowing authors of articles published in all 19 of its journals to publish under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license. Authors choosing to make their work available under a CC-BY license will pay a “premium” article processing charge, which Nature says will make up for income it typically earns on reprints.
David Hoole, Nature’s Marketing Director said that “We want to encourage more researchers to make their articles accessible, and maximize reuse, by giving authors a choice of licenses they can be comfortable with.”
In the Creative Commons Espana blog, Carlos Castillo writes that the move will open up access to articles that are currently out of reach for many. “The cost of an institutional subscription to Nature varies by institution size between 5,500 and 16,500 euros per year, which is prohibitive for many universities and research centers. Without a subscription, read a single article published in Nature costs 25 euros per item… This is very good news for students, researchers, and the general public. Read and quote what others have written is a central part of scientific work, access to these jobs is critical to the advancement of science and for society as a whole can enjoy the benefits of this progress.”
More peer-reviewed open access journals can be found in an online directory maintained by Lund University.
