In an open letter first circulated nearly a year ago, founding members of the PLOS demanded that publishers make all content freely available six months after initial publication without restrictions. The idea was to not only eliminate often-prohibitive subscription fees, but to make all published scientific literature fully searchable via large repositories. Publishers who didn't comply by this past September faced a potential boycott from the tens of thousands of scientists from all over the world who signed on to the initiative (Signatures on the PLOS Web site currently total more than 28,000). Although science publishers certainly took notice, leading to varying degrees of cooperation, few journals have explicitly complied with PLOS demands. Several publishers called the PLOS effort too aggressive, financially unrealistic, and an avenue toward the unwarranted and unwelcome loss of control of their own operations.
"The Public Library of Science has actually been a big success despite ...
