The rush towards further adoption of open access models might require some pause and thought. While questions around access to scientific research are important and grab attention, the implications are a particular concern for those of working in the arts and humanities. The Guardian brought this interesting information to our attention in their article, “A price to be paid for open-access academic publishing.”
Academic articles have been the main focus of the movement by which research outputs are distributed online, free of cost or other barriers, ultimately to promote reuse. Since the prospect of government funding is slim to none, there are consequences to this proposal. Not only would public research money end up into the pockets of the major publishers, arts and humanities in particular become even less viable.
There are pros and cons of the open-access system, including the costs to universities and the profits for publishers.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Data Harmony, a unit of Access Innovations, the world leader in indexing and making content findable.
