Open access 'revolution' in the news

The Guardian has published 2 articles using the term 'academic spring' to describe revolutionary changes in academic publishing, and Radio 4's Today programme highlights a call to 'share research papers'.

'Wellcome Trust joins 'academic spring' to open up science' makes front page news, and explains how Wellcome is supporting the transition to open access publishing with a new journal - eLife - as well as with tougher demands on institutions to ensure Wellcome-funded research output is made open access.

'Academic spring: how an angry maths blog sparked a scientific revolution' is a lengthy and very informative article covering academic publishing, the REF, the rationale for open access, and background to the boycott of Elsevier which now has over 9000 signatories.

The Director of the Wellcome Trust, Sir Mark Walport, also spoke on Radio 4's Today programme about the 'enormously important' developments in academic publishing, and described open access as the best way to maximise impact of research. The new journal eLife, jointly supported by Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Max Planck Society and the Wellcome Trust, will be available later this year.