“The Public Library of Science”

The movement to boycott journal publishers requiring restrictive copyright agreements of their authors is in full swing, as
evidenced by this open letter signed by
an impressive array of scientists and scholars.

We support the establishment of an online public library that would provide the full contents of the published record of research and scholarly discourse in medicine and the life sciences in a freely accessible, fully searchable, interlinked form. . . To encourage the publishers of our journals to support this endeavor, we pledge that, beginning in September, 2001, we will publish in, edit or review for, and personally subscribe to, only those scholarly and scientific journals that have agreed to grant unrestricted free distribution rights to any and all original research reports that they have published . . .

[via New Breed Librarian and The Free Online Scholarship Newsletter]