Twenty years ago, the world of scientific publishing was very different, with articles available primarily through a subscription model. At BMC, we sensed it was time to develop a new model that would not only maximize the exciting potential of emerging digital technologies, but also meet the needs of those who rely on our industry – authors, funders, libraries, and the wider academic community.
By introducing the immediate, or ‘gold’ open access model, we gave readers free and instant access, enabling faster discovery of the latest research. And this new approach placed authors firmly at the heart of the publishing process for the first time.
A new model for the future
The sustainable open access model that BMC pioneered soon became the industry standard. We make research free to access for everyone, everywhere. Our authors retain copyright of their work through Creative Commons licenses that clearly inform readers how they can copy, distribute, and use their attributed research. All of which helps make articles available to the widest audience, and contributes to the furthering of research in ways that would have seemed impossible two decades ago.
At BMC in 2017 we have enabled researchers to publish 70,000 open access articles, contributing to more than five million article downloads. For us, constant innovation and improvement is an attitude, and we're continuing to create and evolve new ways to help authors and make high quality scientific research available to everyone.