Let's get what we pay for! Open access to publicly funded research!

Right now I am in the midst of trying to persuade various journals to publish my research so that I can finish my PhD.  I never knew how picky journals can be about what they publish.  I'm now intimately acquainted with it, and it is one of the worst parts of science.

Let me explain.  Scientists do research almost entirely through taxpayer dollars.  Then the scientists must 1) pay the journals in order to publish and 2) serve as reviewers for the journals without any monetary compensation while the journals are free to A) charge hefty fees for access and B) create revenue from advertisements and infomercials.  IT IS LUDICROUS LUCRATIVENESS! and it actually gets in the way of being able to publish scientific findings.

The best thing that we can do about it is to simply make a law that requires that you, the taxpayers, get what you have been paying for.  The publications which scientists (and other scholars as well) freely write and actually pay to publish should be freely available to everyone so that you the taxpayers can tap into the findings that you have paid for.  Many journals are already providing open access but the most prestigious journals are not and the newer open access journals are having a hard time competing.  Let's change all that and pressure our congressman until they make open access the law here in the USA.  Fortunately, the movement is already organized for you.   Help it out at

taxpayeraccess.org