I attempted to sign up today and found out that you have to be a member of a research institution. Why is this? Doesn't this defeat much of the purpose of openness (as members of research institutions usually already have access to paywall-protected research anyway, whereas the general public doesn't)?
You don't have to be a member of a research institution. On the signup page, there is a checkbox to sign up as an independent researcher. See this screenshot http://cl.ly/image/1k2L0u1J1D3L
