To clear up some misconceptions in the posts... (Score 4, Informative)

I work for the Public Library of Science, an organization dedicated to Open Access publishing, and just wanted to clarify a few issues.

I've only briefly scanned the posts, but wanted to clear up a few things, at least about how we go about open access publishing:

1) ALL of our papers are peer-reviewed to very stringent standards. In fact, many of our editorial board members have worked with high profile for-profit journals (Nature, Science, Cell, etc.). This is not simply a 'pay to publish' system.

2) Our publication costs are not necessarily prohibitive. We grant waivers to those unable to afford these costs. Incidentally, our publication charge does not currently cover even our own costs.

Currently, for-profit journals are taking advantage of a free labor pool (scientists who donate their time to perform peer review), and turning around and profiting from it. As several readers have mentioned, much of the research published in these journals is funded by taxpayers; the fact that these taxpayers, and even the scientists themselves, have to pay for access to this research is something which needs to be remedied.

Please refer to our website for more information.