Guest blog – A Poem for Open Access Day

Open Access Day

They said:

“if you publish in an open forum your paper’d be rubbish and clearly hokum”

” pub’s commercial know how to review with the peerage, how to make data flow and hurdles clearage”

“limited space on the page with every new edition so few make the passage, it’s editorial selection!”

“we have always done and it’s never been changed the readers we dunn and the paper’s in chains”

“what is ought to be why change it now it is so plain to see must limit the flow”

“But in, PLoS chimed, and challenged that dragon everyone joined and the boycott was on”

“The authors we’ll dunn when funding provides we’ll have much more fun when all readers can chide”

“the new Open Access to everyone’s work can be the new praxis and everyone’s perk”

“with the previous method the work was all gratis publishers prod to maintain their status”

“the cash it did flow to the publishers coffers we were covered with snow from ingenuous offers”

“It’s all in the model be it business or open pub’s whine and they yodel but their way is broken”

“Open Access is true for me and for you the pub’s they be blue but it’s now, and it’s new”

“they can keep their closed access and journals galore but we’ve a new process that we’ll use ever more.”

Open access matters to me because it is one of the pillars of the new world of the 21st century. It is the democratization of information. I’ve been aware of Open Access since before it existed, as I’ve always thought this is how it should be done. Research should be provided in an Open Access format (with no or only very minimal delays) because we expect society to support, through government, private funding, and free-riding on corporate profits, this research. It is not our research. To support Open Access, I blog about it, and my next paper will be submitted to an Open Access journal. Gotta go …. need to work on paper…