Financial Times article -- Royal Society tests new system of free access to papers

[Ray English <Ray.English@oberlin.edu>]

Royal Society tests new system of free access to papers
By Jon Boone in London

Published: June 20 2006 23:13 | Last updated: June 20 2006 23:13

The world's oldest learned society will on Wednesday tear up its 
340-year-old business model with the launch of an "open access" 
journal allowing people to read its new scientific papers free of 
charge.

The Royal Society in London virtually invented the 
subscription-based system of peer-reviewed scientific journals 
when it started the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal 
Society in 1665.

But in a trial that will be closely watched by researchers and 
journal publishers around the world, it will allow authors to pay 
for costs of publication themselves.

Authors, or their research sponsors, who choose to pay to make 
their papers immediately available online will be charged 
300pounds ($553) per A4 page.

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