On 14 September 2009, five leading American universities announced a new "Compact for Open Access Publishing Equity" in which they have pledged to develop systems to pay open access journals for the articles they publish by the institutions' scholars. In doing so, the institutions are attempting to put to rest the idea that only older publication models (paid and/or print) can support rigorous peer review and quality assurance.

By embracing a new model, the institutions say, they hope to shift away from a system in which rising journal prices have frustrated librarians, and the lack of free access has frustrated those whose institutions can't afford many journals.

The universities involved are inviting others to join them, so that more and more institutions are clearly behind the open access movement. A statement from L. Rafael Reif, provost of the the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said: "The dissemination of research findings to the public is not merely the right of research universities: it is their obligation. Open access publishing promises to put more research in more hands and in more places around the world. This is a good enough reason for universities to embrace the guiding principles of this compact."

In addition to MIT, the other institutions that issued the pledge are Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University and the University of California at Berkeley.

Read more: www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/09/15/open