Publishing a paper in a respected journal marks the culmination of successful scientific research, and in this age of genome-scale analyses and Internet-fuelled information overload, scientists still go about this process in much the same way as in decades past. The manuscript is submitted to a journal for peer review—the optimistic researcher will begin with prestigious journals, working down if the paper is declined—and, once accepted, the article is revised and published, accessible to subscribers of a particular journal. This traditional system, outwardly benign, has become ill-suited to its purpose of the disseminating scientific information.

As academic scientists, we take pride in the sovereignty of our research, and our ability freely to publish and communicate our results. Yet we submit to a cartel that privatizes our findings and compels us to buy back access to these results. We accept that access to our papers will be available onl ...

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