The openness of publicly funded scientific studies is more complex than just whether to charge or not the journals’ readers. First of all there is a qualification we may do about the matter of the study. If it involves military knowledge, it is obvious, as far as we are concerned with home land security, that the study must not become public. The best shape of the bombs, the best components of an explosive and which living organisms may produce a biological weapon should not be available to everyone interested, even if it was publicly funded. If the knowledge does not involve such a threat, then we can proceed with the precedent arguing.
A scientific journal must be economic sound, so it is mandatory that it charges a subscription, unless, of course, it is publicly funded also. In that case, charging a subscription would be double taxation. But, if this is not the case, we have to understand that the production of a journal, as any other magazine, has its costs: paper, labor, electricity, rent and so on. So, the charged subscription may be the only form of financing it has, although it may sell space to sponsors, it is not the kind of thing scientists and science readers expect to see in magazines of this type.
On the other hand, the public has the right to own what it is funding. In order to solve this puzzle, we should implement some experimental publishing policies. A first alternative to charged only papers could be the opening of the study after one year of the publication in the scientific journal. In this way, the journal may profit for it is the first publisher, and those who do not want or cannot pay for it may have the chance to get the study a year later.
