Bet you didn't even know that today is Open Access Day, where we all come together to recommit ourselves to broadening awareness of Open Access. What is Open Access, you ask? Well, the Open Access Day website defines it thus:
Open Access is a growing international movement that uses the Internet to throw open the locked doors that once hid knowledge. It encourages the unrestricted sharing of research results with everyone, everywhere, for the advancement and enjoyment of science and society.
Open Access is the principle that publicly funded research should be freely accessible online, immediately after publication, and it’s gaining ever more momentum around the world as research funders and policy makers put their weight behind it.
Bet you also didn't know that HUP plans to wade into the pool ourselves with the launch this fall of the Journal of Legal Analysis, "a peer-reviewed open access journal sponsored by the Harvard Law School," which will publish, free of charge, superior scholarship in legal analysis from all disciplines. Articles will be faculty-edited and refereed by our fine friends at the Law School, so if you think you've got the goods check out the journal's website for a list of already-accepted articles and contact info for the editorial team. We'll be publishing using the Public Knowledge Project's Open Journal Systems, which will allow us to make the content freely available while preserving all the bits and pieces of the traditional publishing process, including indexing and all that thrilling stuff.
BONUS POINTS: The credo of the Open Access movement crystallized at a 2002 session in Budapest, resulting in the Soros-sponsored Budapest Open Access Initiative -- read it to get a primer of sorts on what the whole thing is about.
