Open Access (oa) to information. Proposal for its application in the learning of medical physiology

Abstract

Everyone has the right to be informed. The free availability of knowledge is a basic tool to enhance equity among the members of a community. The researchers paid by public funds have the moral obligation to get their results be freely accessible to everyone. Development of science and technology is highly dependent on communication of previous knowledge. Free access to information improves undergraduate training, at least with regard to some disciplines in which the most cited articles are published in open access (OA) journals. Scientific publications adhere to two financing systems that are not mutually exclusive, namely, a) the user or an institution pays a fee to read an article or buy a full subscription, or b) the author is charged for revision and publication of the article. Both systems limit the access to knowledge. In journals with high impact, most of the articles are from countries with high income levels, although less numerous. Open access has been relevant in the dissemination of recent knowledge in Medical Physiology, as well as in the proposal of education strategies. The present work describes access information algorithms for both students and teachers in a basic discipline. It also put to consideration a system of OA in order to improve formation-investigation-care through a high quality development in the Medical Physiology education, and it also discusses the feasibility of its application.