The Gates Foundation 

pushes to make more academic research free and open to the public

1. Starting in January 2017, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will require all of the research it funds to be published in a manner that is free for the public to read, according to a recent statement.
2. The Gates Foundation rules are in conflict with current policies at many top journals such as Science, which generally charge for access for at least the first few months.
3. Still, the organization has a lot of clout and may be able to push for more open access.

4. How the Gates Foundation is pushing for open access

   The Gates Foundation spends about $900 million each year funding scientific research — which results in about 1,400 research papers on various aspects of global health.
   Under the new policy, the researchers that the organization funds will only be able to publish papers that are immediately freely accessible to the public. That means that these scientists wouldn't necessarily be able to publish in top journals like Science that charge for access to its articles — unless these journals change their policies or open up those particular papers. And, since the Gates Foundation funds so much research, there will be pressure on these journals to do so (or else they'll lose out on potentially important papers).
   More specifically, these rules will go into full effect by 2017. The articles will have to be free for anyone to use or build upon in any way, including for commercial purposes.
   This open policy is more extensive than most major biomedical funders — including the US National Institutes of Health, which only requires results to be free a year after publication.
   The Gates Foundation's policy is part of a growing movement called "open access," which promotes making research findings and data freely available to the public.

   This is part of a trend toward open access

   Researchers generally want their papers to be read by as many people as possible. But the journals that publish those papers are, in many cases, for-profit institutions — and they prefer charging for access.
   Lately, however, the Open Access movement has been fighting to make more and more research free to the public. And they're succeeding. Here's a snapshot of what was freely available to the public in 2010, sorted by discipline:
   
   (Policy Guidelines for the Development and Promotion of Open Access, UNESCO)
   
   
   The big black line shows the percentage of papers in all subjects published between 1998 and 2006 that was freely available. But there's also great variation between different types of research. Topping the open list are mathematics, social sciences, and Earth sciences — each has 30 percent or more of its 2006 papers free. But compare that to clinical medicine, which is less than 5 percent.
   PHYSICS PAPERS ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE FREELY AVAILABLE — NOT SO WITH CLINICAL MEDICINE
   Some of this variation is because of different research cultures. For example, many physicists have been posting pre-publication manuscripts on a public website called arXivsince 1991, so it's not a surprise that physics (designated by blue crosses on the chart) also tends to have more of its peer-reviewed papers freely available.
   By contrast, clinical medicine and biomedical papers were some of the least likely to be freely available — at least when this chart was made. One possible reason why? Many medical institutions are willing to pay big bucks for access.
   It's worth noting that even that is changing, however. In 2008, the National Institutes of Health began requiring papers generated by the research it funded (which is taxpayer money) to be freely available to the public a year after publication or earlier. That's opened up a large chunk of biomedical research.
   The chart comes from a 2012 UNESCO report on the practice of open access, which the organization strongly encourages as a way to spread knowledge and information worldwide:

   Through Open Access, researchers and students from around the world gain increased access to knowledge, publications receive greater visibility and readership, and the potential impact of research is heightened. Increased access to, and sharing of knowledge leads to opportunities for equitable economic and social development, intercultural dialogue, and has the potential to spark innovation.

   
   

   Further reading: Hat tip to Cristobal Cobo for calling my attention to this chart. Go to his website for a discussion of various business models that could keep open publishing sustainable.
   Update: This story was updated to provide more clarity about the specific requirements of the Gates Foundation's new policy.

http://www.vox.com/2014/11/24/7277319/gates-foundation-free-journals

Another OA Publisher Launches with 96 New Journals

Academia Research launched recently with 96 brand new scholarly journals, most of them broadly focused. This publisher uses the gold open-access model and bills authors upon acceptance of a manuscript. It says,

Fees and Charges: A handling fee of $550 will be billed to the authors for each manuscript published.

Other than this, there’s not much to say about this publisher. It has a minimalist website that provides little of the information that scholarly publishers conventionally provide.

Some of its journals have only a couple editorial board members, yet they are accepting manuscript submissions, which is done through email.

Appendix: Academia Research journals as of 2014-09-01:

1. Advances in Accounting and Taxation
2. Advances in African Studies and Development
3. Advances in Agricultural Economics and Extension
4. Advances in AIDS and HIV Research
5. Advances in Bacteriology Research and Review
6. Advances in Biodiversity and Conservation Research
7. Advances in Bioinformatics and Sequence Analysis
8. Advances in Biophysics and Structural Biology
9. Advances in Biotechnology Research
10. Advances in Brewing and Distilling
11. Advances in Cancer and Experimental Oncology Research
12. Advances in Cell and Animal Biology Research
13. Advances in Cell Biology and Genetics Research
14. Advances in Cereals and Oilseeds
15. Advances in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
16. Advances in Civil Engineering and Construction Technology
17. Advances in Clinical Immunology and Immunopathology Research
18. Advances in Clinical Medicine
19. Advances in Clinical Pathology and Forensic Medicine
20. Advances in Dentistry and Oral Hygiene Research
21. Advances in Developmental Biology and Tissue Engineering
22. Advances in Diabetes and Endocrinology Research
23. Advances in Economics and International Finance
24. Advances in Electrical and Electronics Engineering Research
25. Advances in Engineering and Computer Innovations
26. Advances in Engineering and Technology Research
27. Advances in Entomology and Nematology
28. Advances in Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology
29. Advances in Epidemiology Research
30. Advances in Evolutionary Biology Research
31. Advances in Fine and Studio Art
32. Advances in Fisheries and Aquaculture
33. Advances in General and Molecular Virology
34. Advances in Genetics and Molecular Biology Research
35. Advances in Geography and Regional Planning
36. Advances in Geology and Mining Research
37. Advances in Horticulture and Forestry
38. Advances in Hospitality Management and Tourism
39. Advances in Infectious Diseases and Immunity Research
40. Advances in Internet and Information Systems
41. Advances in Languages and Culture
42. Advances in Livestock Production
43. Advances in Material Science and Engineering
44. Advances in Mechanical Engineering Research
45. Advances in Media and Communication Studies
46. Advances in Medical Genetics and Genomics Research
47. Advances in Medical Laboratory and Diagnosis Research
48. Advances in Medicinal Plants Research
49. Advances in Metabolomics and Systems Biology Research
50. Advances in Microbiology and Antimicrobials
51. Advances in Music and Dance
52. Advances in Neuroscience and Behavioral Health Research
53. Advances in Nursing and Midwifery Research
54. Advances in Oceanography and Marine Science
55. Advances in Parasitology and Vector Biology Research
56. Advances in Petroleum and Gas Engineering
57. Advances in Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy Research
58. Advances in Philosophical Research and Reviews
59. Advances in Physical Education and Sport Management
60. Advances in Physiology and Pathophysiology
61. Advances in Plant Breeding and Crop Science
62. Advances in Plant Physiology and Science
63. Advances in Political Science and International Relations
64. Advances in Public Administration and Policy Research
65. Advances in Soil Science and Environmental Management
66. Advances in Stored Products and Postharvest Research
67. Advances in Toxicology and Environmental Health Sciences
68. Advances in Veterinary Medicine and Animal Health Research
69. Advances in Yeast and Fungal Research
70. African Advances in Agricultural Research
71. African Advances in Biochemistry Research
72. African Advances in Business Management
73. African Advances in Ecology
74. African Advances in Food Science
75. African Advances in History and Culture
76. African Advances in Marketing Management
77. African Advances in Mathematics and Computer Science
78. African Advances in Microbiology Research
79. African Advances in Nutrition and Metabolism Research
80. African Advances in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology
81. African Advances in Pharmacy and Pharmacology Research
82. African Advances in Physical Sciences
83. African Advances in Pure and Applied Chemistry
84. African Advances in Sociology and Anthropology
85. Educational Research and Reports
86. Environmental Sciences and Essays
87. International Advances in Computer Engineering Research
88. International Advances in Educational Administration and Policy Studies
89. International Advances in English and Literature
90. International Advances in Library and Information Science
91. International Advances in Psychology and Counselling
92. International Advances in Science and Technology Education Research
93. International Advances in Vocational and Technical Education
94. International Advances in Water Resources and Environmental Engineering
95. Public Health Research and Essays
96. Scientific Research and Review