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The possibility of expanding open access --free of charge and universal-- throughout scientific literature has become a battlefield for controversy, extending beyond the bounds of the publishing and scientific aspects, into the economic and even political arenas. The open access phenomenon is especially prominent in science, technology and biomedical journals, but it is in the latter where the controversy is most clearly manifest. This article offers the current status of changes caused by the open access movement in the health sciences. The main arguments of the main parties involved, both for and against the movement, are presented, focussing on aspects such as free access to the results of research published in journals, maintenance of the quality and rigour of scientific publications, and the possibility of transforming a publishing sector that is economically based on the model of subscriptions, without endangering it.
