Few could disagree that the primary goal of scientific publishing is to ensure the widest possible access to scientific information, and it has never been more accessible than today. More than 2,000 scientific, technical and medical publishers worldwide publish more than 1m peer-reviewed articles in 16,000 or so learned journals each year.

The scientific community has achieved a stable, scale-able and affordable system of publishing that adapts and invests in its information needs. Nevertheless, a debate is now raging on how scientific publishing serves the research community.