As a soon-to-be academic, I'm very pleased to see my alma mater Harvard Journal of Law & Technology on the list of signatories to the newly launched Open Access Law Program, at Science Commons.

The OAL Program encourages law journals to commit to a set of OAL Journal Principles. These Principles require that a journal 1) take only a limited term license, 2) provide a citable copy of the final version of the article, and 3) provide public access to the journal's standard publishing contract. In return, the author promises to attribute first publication to the journal.

Legal scholarship can only gain by wider circulation. Open access makes articles available to readers outside of ivory towers, bringing new participants -- and new ideas -- to the conversation.