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A discussion is provided of the new opportunities created by the emergence of and support for the open access publishing model. Benefits can be easily seen for public health organizations, research funders, and academic institutions, many of which have endorsed open access. However, naysayers may be saying the open access does not offer a sustainable business model, that it might not deliver the same standard of peer review as traditional journals, and that it is an unnecessary attempt to fix a system that isnt broken. Topics covered are enablement of a specialist focus, helping to educate physicians, and providing a balanced view. The work of Marcel Hommel, founding editor of Malaria Journal in 2001, for instance, focused on starting a journal that specialized only in malaria, a large and expanding field. Hommel knew that open access was a suitable model for a malaria-centered journal, and he created a system that would make sure the highest quality articles would be published. He enlisted the services of a diverse editorial board that included 18 of the leading 50 mostcited authors between 2003 and 2006. Peer review is rigorous, all articles are well copy-edited, and the Malaria Journal recently earned an Impact Factor of 2.14.
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