Editorial

The reality of open access and the search for financial stability A realidade do Acesso Livre (Open-Access) e a busca por estabilidade financeira All articles published in the Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy (BJPT) have gained great visibility in the national and international scene with the journal’s indexing in the SciELO database and, more recently, in MEDLINE. The articles electronically published by the BJPT can also be accessed freely, without payment for access or subscription. If, on one hand, the adoption of the open-access system is an important step toward the dissemination and citation of the articles made available by the BJPT, on the other, it creates a distortion. How can a journal be financially viable if it does not charge for access to its product? The solution to this problem is far from trivial, but necessary for a journal of this magnitude. The literature available through open access (OA) is digital, online, and free, in other words, exempt from certain restrictions imposed by the charge of fees and/or permission barriers1 (i.e. copyright). Actually, this unpaid reality extends in chain-like fashion. The authors of scientific articles donate their work and their intellectual production to be available in OA. In the same way, the ad-hoc reviewers, who analyze and evaluate the articles submitted to the scientific journal, work voluntarily, and the editors of these journals take on responsibilities and commitments, also without pay. These voluntary workers are committed to science. Certainly, researchers and scientists receive