Challenges for open access journals: quantity, quality and economic sustainability

Open access to science refers to the free availability of scientific content in Internet, fundamentally articles from journals. This means users are not only able to consult them for free, but also to download, copy, print and distribute them. This is a model of spreading scientific knowledge that implies a radical transformation in the functioning of the scientific community.Regarding the typology of open access journals as defined by Melero and Abad (2008) we can distinguish among (1) those who are free to consult and free of charge for readers and authors, (2) those demanding a payment for publishing (paid by the author), (3) hybrid models (payment for subscription with open access articles) and (4) journals with subscription offering open access contents (sometimes delayed). Section 5 devoted to funding delves into this particular question.