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Statement in support of the investigative work of Richard PoynderRichard Poynder, a distinguished scientific journalist specializing inonline-era scientific/scholarly communication and publication, hasbeen the ablest, most prolific and most probing chronicler of the openaccess movement from its very beginning. He is widely respected forhis independence, even-handedness, analysis, careful interviews, anddetailed research.Richard is currently conducting a series of investigations on the peerreview practices of some newly formed open access journals and theirpublishers.  In one case, when a publisher would not talk to himprivately, Richard made his questions public in this Forum:"Help sought on OA publisher Scientific Journals International"http://listserver.sigmaxi.org/sc/wa.exe?A2=ind08&#38;L=american-scientist-open-access-forum&#38;D=1&#38;O=D&#38;F=l&#38;S=&#38;P=51625That posting elicited public and private threats of a libel suit andaccusations of racism.  Those groundless threats and accusationsappear to us to be attempts to intimidate."Lies, fear and smear campaigns against SJI and other OA journals"https://arl.org/lists/sparc-oaforum/Message/4526.htmlMoreover, Richard is being portrayed as an opponent of open access,which he is not.  He is an even-handed, critically minded analyst ofthe open access movement (among other things), and his criticalinvestigations are healthy for open access.He has interviewed us both, at length.  While the resulting pictureswere largely favorable, he didn't hesitate to probe our weaknesses andthe objections others have raised to our respective methods or stylesof work.  This kind of critical scrutiny is essential to a new andfast-growing movement and does not imply hostility to the subjects ofhis investigation or opposition to open access.Trying to suppress Richard Poynder's investigations through threats oflegal action is contemptible.  We hope that the friends of open accessin the legal community will attest to the lawfulness of his inquiriesand that all friends of open access will attest to the value andlegitimacy of his investigative journalism.Peter Suber and Stevan Harnad***See herehttp://archiv.twoday.net/stories/5158161