Shieber, Stuart2010-05-272009Stuart M. Shieber. 2009. Equity for open-access journal publishing. PLoS Biology, 7(8): e1000165.1544-91731545-7885http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:4140820Scholars write articles to be read--the more access to their articles the better--so one might think that the open-access approach to publishing, in which articles are freely available online to all without interposition of an access fee, would be an attractive competitor to traditional subscription-based journal publishing. But open-access journal publishing is currently at a systematic disadvantage relative to the traditional model. I propose a simple, cost-effective remedy to this inequity that would put open-access publishing on a path to become a sustainable, efficient system, allowing the two journal publishing systems to compete on a more level playing field. The issue is important, first, because academic institutions shouldn’t perpetuate barriers to an open-access business model on principle and, second, because the subscription-fee business model has manifested systemic dysfunctionalities in practice. After describing the problem with the subscription-fee model, I turn to the proposal for providing equity for open-access journal publishing--the open-access compact.en-USJournal Article2010-05-2710.1371/journal.pbio.1000165