#OpenAccess: Free online, open-access crowdsource-reviewed publishing is the future; traditional peer-reviewed journals are on the way out

This series of editorials will provide CJEM readers with an opportunity to hear differing perspectives on topics pertinent to the practice of emergency medicine. The debaters have been allocated opposing arguments on topics on which there is some controversy or perhaps scientific equipoise.

We continue with the topic of open-access (OA) publishing. With the switch from paper-based publishing to online journals, in the age of free OA medical education (FOAM), and with most publications being fully or partially funded by public money, whether directly or indirectly through academic salaries, is it time to bring down the paywall and allow free OA to medical publications? Alternatively, is there still a role for the traditional paper-based or limited access online journal, with regular readers, traditional peer-review processes, supported by a combination of subscriptions, advertising, and pay-per-view access? Can we open-up access and still maintain high academic standards? John Adler, the Dorothy and TK Chan Professor, Emeritus at Stanford University, and Editor-in-Chief of Cureus.- com, argues that the future of medical publishing should be open and free, with the team led by Teresa Chan, themselves an academic group highly engaged with FOAM, responding that there remains value in a more traditional approach.