El acceso abierto (open access) y el futuro de la edición en el ámbito biomédico: una figura con múltiples aristas

The possibility of expanding open access —free of charge and universal— throughout scientific literature has become a battlefield for controversy, extending beyond the bounds of the publishing and scientific aspects, into the eco- nomic and even political arenas. The open access phenomenon is especially prominent in science, technology and bio- medical journals, but it is in the latter where the controversy is most clearly manifest. This article offers the current sta- tus of changes caused by the open access movement in the health sciences. The main arguments of the main parties in- volved, both for and against the movement, are presented, focussing on aspects such as free access to the results of re- search published in journals, maintenance of the quality and rigour of scientific publications, and the possibility of trans- forming a publishing sector that is economically based on the model of subscriptions, without endangering it.