Nobel Prize winners, including physicists Sheldon Glashow, John Mather, Douglas Osheroff & David Politzer, have written to the US Congress to urge them to adopt an open access policy for state-funded research.

"The open availability of federally funded research for broad public use in open online archives is a crucial building block in laying a strong national foundation to support accelerated discovery and innovation. It encourages broader participation in the scientific process by providing equitable access to high-quality research results to researchers at higher education institutions of all kinds - from research-intensive universities to community colleges alike. It can empower more members of the public to become engaged in citizen science efforts in areas that pique their imagination. It will equip entrepreneurs and small business owners with the very latest research developments, allowing them to more effectively compete in the development of new technologies and innovations. Open availability of this research will expand the worldwide visibility of the research conducted in the U.S. and increase the impact of our collective investment in research."

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We are very pleased to be launching a new journal in 2010 covering all aspects of open source software, code and algorithms as applied to scientific research. Emphasis will be on the quality of the code, its potential application in other areas of research and in the possibility of the reader to be able to run the code with example datasets. Look out for the official announcement on the PhysMath Central blog in the coming weeks.