Dr. Winston Hide decides to resigns from his associate editor position of Genomics because of the expensive subscription rate of the journal precludes many in accessing important articles that are important for public health.
From The Guardian:
Today I resigned from the editorial board of a well respected journal in my field – Genomics. No longer can I work for a system that provides solid profits for the publisher while effectively denying colleagues in developing countries access to research findings.
A respectable decision! I must say that the situation in the developed countries is getting worse too. And I often have to ask my friends to download papers for me. Thus, publishing in open-access journals is a good alternative*. However, when the research budget is tight, who is going to pay for the publication fee?
*Disclaimer: I am an academic editor of PLoS ONE because I support their publication philosophy. This article reflects my personal view and does not reflect the Journal’s position.