Open Access Movement
Introduction:
- The term “open access” (OA) is used to describe particular academic publication practises that broaden public access to creative work. A scientific paper that is open access (OA) will be free to read.
About OA Movement:
- One of the main factors contributing to the OA movement’s current popularity is the prohibitive cost of obtaining scholarly journals. Numerous journals routinely charge $15 or more to read a paper just once and $30 or more for continued access. Universities currently spend many crores annually on the escalating subscription costs for these periodicals.
- There are other OA programmes that offer better alternatives. In order for everyone in the nation to read the papers without paying any additional fees, the government will bargain with publishers for a capped and fixed rate to access their papers (of studies financed by the state) and pay the fees. In India, the “One Nation, One Subscription” (ONOS) programme has recently begun.
- The Education Ministry set an implementation deadline of April 1, 2023, and has already reduced the number of publishers to 70.
How to publish a research article:
- A scientist writes an article and submits it to a journal. Peer reviewers, who are subject area experts who study the paper after the journal’s editors have submitted it, look at the authors’ claims and make ideas about how to structure it, cite earlier research, reach certain conclusions, etc. The paper is polished when the review is finished, and the magazine then publishes it in print, online, or both.
- A barrier protects online publications that use the “subscription model.”
- A paywall is a method of controlling access to content by requesting payment or a paid subscription.
- Paywall charges have climbed quickly over time. 59 of the 100 “most frequently cited publications ever published,” according to a 2018 Duke University poll, are behind a paywall, with each article costing an independent researcher an average of $33.41 (or $2,285). (2018).
- A 2020 report by fellows of India’s science academies noted that “During 2018, India spent an estimated 1,500 crore for subscriptions to [e-journals] and/or print journals.” As access to papers increases in cost, fewer academics, journalists, policymakers, students, etc. can access them.
The several types of OA include:
- With the advent of the internet, OA gained popularity in the early 1990s, which was followed by interest from academics, libraries, and other stakeholders in reducing publication costs and boosting access.
- In 1991, physicist Paul Ginsparg established the preprint repository arXiv.org. Before it is sent to a journal, the manuscript is known as a preprint. Although post-publication peer review is one option, preprint publications are not often subjected to peer review.
- The availability of preprints led to the conversion of many journals to open access, but there was a catch. Some of them began charging authors of a paper an article processing fee, which journals referred to as a fee, as opposed to the work’s readers after publication (APC). Thus, the Gold OA APC model is called.
- In Green OA, a repository at the institute level retains copies of papers published by its researchers and makes them available to the public after an embargo period—often specified by the journals that publish the works—that is commonly specified by the repository.
- Papers are published in a journal for no cost via Diamond OA. Even while hybrid journals use the subscription model, authors of articles that have been published and put behind a paywall may pay extra costs to “transform” them open access (OA).
- Free OA only allows fair usage, nothing more.
- Libre OA authorises one or more uses in addition to fair use.
- Sci-Hub, a digital platform that provides open access to thousands of academic articles that were taken illegally and whose legality is currently being contested in the Delhi High Court, is allegedly Black OA.
Why is it necessary:
- But many newspapers charge absurdly high APCs. The Nature Communications APC for each accepted publication is 5.2 lakh, although the journal only publishes manuscripts that are openly accessible. India is not one of the countries that qualify for the exclusions offered to low- and lower-income countries.
- According to the 2020 study, Indian researchers paid 38 crore between 2016 and 2019 to publish works in “just two OA journals: PLOS One and Scientific Reports.”
- In an effort to save costs, the government established ONOS in 2020, but experts are still divided. Three main concerns exist:
- Even though the government will only give journals a certain amount, it might still be a lot.
- Throughout the discussions, which periodicals will be discussed and why? Journals may not agree on a common charge because to India’s vast population of researchers with a diverse variety of interests (in 2020, a “recommended list” received some criticism).
The prognosis for OA:
- In its “Recommendation on Open Research” from 2021, UNESCO advocated that “no one [be] left behind with regard to access to knowledge and advantages from scientific advancement.” This was especially important as countries dealt with epochal concerns like global warming and zoonoses.
- Today, the focus is on how to make OA more widely accepted. 2018 saw the commencement of the global collaboration’s Plan S project. According to the Plan S member organisations, “scientific articles that are the outcome of research supported by public grants” will be “published in compatible OA journals or platforms” by 2021.
- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a policy in January 2021 allowing “the unlimited access and reuse of any peer-reviewed published research financed, in whole or in part, by the foundation.” Other research funding organisations have released similar regulations. But those who must achieve these objectives frequently contribute a lot of money to Gold OA or hybrid publishing.
Conclusion:
- “The difficulty of finding sustainable means to support the costs of OA publication has delayed the OA transition across the business,” claims Michael Donaldson, who works in the scholarly publishing industry.
