Abstract
In order to do justice to the collective and universal nature of science, the free exchange of research results is nothing less than imperative. This can only mean free and open access to these results. Before the internet, the physical limitations of print made universal open access a practical impossibility. But now that the internet is proving to be such a useful instrument of disseminating information, these physical constraints have disappeared. Left are only the economic constructs of subscriptions and licences, which are relics of the past, when they were the appropriate models for print publications. Publishing is, of course, not without costs. BioMed Central is pioneering a so-called ‘input-paid’ publishing model that recoups the costs from article processing charges rather than subscriptions or licences. The resulting ‘open access’ to scientific literature delivers maximum visibility and impact in addition to increased speed of publication and dramatically lower costs to the community.