Next step in the Open Source revolution: peer-reviewed scientific journals in the public domain (and on the Net)!

The “NYT” is carrying a fascinating story today about a major new initiative (backed by serious money from Gordon and Betty Moore) to bypass commercial journal publishing and put stuff straight onto the Net. According to reporter Amy Harmon, ” group of prominent scientists is mounting an electronic challenge to the leading scientific journals, accusing them of holding back the progress of science by restricting online access to their articles so they can reap higher profits.

Supported by a $9 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the scientists say that this week they will announce the creation of two peer-reviewed online journals on biology and medicine, with the goal of cornering the best scientific papers and immediately depositing them in the public domain.

By providing a highly visible alternative to what they view as an outmoded system of distributing information, the founders hope science itself will be transformed. The two journals are the first of what they envision as a vast electronic library in which no one has to pay dues or seek permission to read, copy or use the collective product of the world’s academic research.”