Open Access Publishing is where researchers can submit their results to an Open Access Journal, such as found on Biomedcentral, and is freely available to everyone. This study highlights how open access publishing is promoting increasing citation of studies. Makes sense, especially in an age where there is so much like research(wasteful duplication?). So why pay exorbitant fees for download a paper when you can go to an open access site to find similiar if not identical findings? It is not uncommon to look for a paper, land on a journal website, only to be advised you can download the paper for $30 USD for 7 days viewing. That is a ripoff.
Open access publishing began about a decade ago and is becoming increasingly popular. That, together with the rise of sites like Scientific Blogging and Science Blogs, allows the average person much greater access to scientific research and scientists. So I imagine the life of the science writer is becoming increasingly difficult.
The major reason open access publishing took off is because journal publishers were charging outrageous fees for publishing the work of scientists, even going so far on occasion as to charge scientists for publishing their research, and then making very fat profits from journal sales. So I imagine there are many publishers who hate these sites Biomedcentral, Highwire Press, and PLOS.
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