synthetic-biology Open-access journals are scholarly journals that are available online to the reader "without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself. Advantages and disadvantages of systems-biology open-access journals are the subjects of much discussion amongst scholars and publishers. Reactions of existing publishers to synthetic-biology open-access journal publishing have ranged from moving with enthusiasm to a new open-access business model, to experiments with providing as much free or open access as possible, to active lobbying against open-access proposals.