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Researchers began a boycott of scientific journals that do not allow free access to their contents on 1 September — although organizers admit that too few journals have complied for the boycott to take full effect immediately.

The organizers, members of an initiative known as the Public Library of Science (see Nature 410, 502; 2001), say the list of compliant journals “is not yet sufficient to accommodate all the work that we and our colleagues must publish”.

In a letter to the 26,000 researchers who have pledged support on the Internet, they urged supporters not to subscribe to, publish in or review for journals — including Nature — that do not make their contents freely available within six months of publication on a centralized website, PubMed Central, operated by the US government. But they suggest that, if necessary, supporters should publish in journals that come closest to meeting its conditions.

At the time of the boycott deadline, 16 print journals and 60 online journals published by London-based BioMed Central met its criteria.

Print journals complying with the criteria include Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Molecular Biology of the Cell, British Medical Journal, Bioinformatics, The Plant Cell and Breast Cancer Research.

The letter confirms earlier reports that the organizers are trying to raise funds to start their own online journals (see Nature 412, 469; 2001). The journals would be produced by volunteers, and the group says their publication cost could be covered by a flat fee of about US$300 per published article.

Whether such journals will draw researchers away from mainstream journals is hard to predict, says Donald Kennedy, editor of Science, which makes its contents freely available on its own website after a year.

“A lot will depend on whether a large enough group of people will support it and provide all of the other things Nature and Science provide, such as commentary and news,” he says.

Nicholas Cozzarelli, editor-in-chief of PNAS, says he strongly supports the group. “I have told them I'll be glad to pitch in, and I think you'll find they will get a tremendous number of volunteers,” he says.

Jayne Marks, publishing director of the Nature Publishing Group, which does not make its full content available free, expressed confidence that its journals, which include Nature, would continue to receive high-quality submissions. “People judge the publication on what it publishes and the benefits it provides,” she says. “We are doing a lot to enhance access to the literature through collaboration with other publishers and archives.”