Lessons for the Global Transition to Equitable Open Access to Research
Open access unlocks research and facilitates collaborations to address the world’s greatest challenges. It allows the public to engage with research and supports policymakers, journalists, medical professionals, teachers, students and the general public to translate research into action.
Today, approximately half of all research articles are OA and freely available to read, yet new barriers have been created for authors to publish. To fully realize the promise of OA that was envisioned when the movement was launched, we must ensure that the systems we are building are equitable and enable anyone, anywhere to both access and contribute to the global record of scholarship. Equitable models of OA do not charge authors to publish and are openly available online.
OA journals which do not charge fees to read or publish in have become known as diamond journals. In addition, depositing versions of articles into institutional or subject-based repositories, known as the green route, also represent an equitable form of OA. To achieve this goal, we can take lessons from countries that pioneered the equitable development of scholarly communications.
This paper, written by Open Future’s fellow Melissa Hagemann (Budapest Open Access Initiative), is based on a series of interviews with OA leaders who are implementing equitable models of OA. Highlights include:
- Underlying Rationale for Countries to Support Equitable OA
- Community, Institutional and Governmental Support for Infrastructure
- Community, Institutional and Governmental Support for Equitable OA – Beyond Infrastructure
- Call for Closer Collaboration in the Global South
The paper contributes to Open Future’s work on the Open Movement, which strives for a more democratic digital future by preserving the achievements of the past two decades while leveraging the benefits of the Digital Commons.
