Defended by movements for open access and the self-archiving of scientific publications, the development of free access archives are significant of the needs of scientific research in terms of communication and dissemination. Allowing everyone access to scientific seams to promote the visibility of research work – and much more quickly than via the classical publication process. Open access in particular is the object of many debates common to all scientific disciplines and must be considered in the framework of the historical context of scientific publication. This new practice of scientific publishing is symptomatic of societal changes caused by free access to content shared intentionally on the Internet and thus generates debates similar to that surround free downloading, the distribution of works and copyright protection.

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