Ending profiteering from publicly-funded research

"Key Findings:

• Australia’s public research institutions funnel an estimated $1 billion into the pockets of private academic publishers every year. Institutions spend $300 million on journal subscriptions alone.
• One‑off access for a single article can cost between AUD $30 and $500.
• Australia’s Chief Scientist has proposed a plan to pressure publishers to slash their exorbitant publishing and subscription fees, but it does not go far enough.
• The Australia Institute is recommending reforms to how funding bodies award research grants. These include:
  • Revising grant criteria to reward publication in open access journals with much lower publishing fees.
  • Trialling a lottery-based system for the allocation of grants to reduce the emphasis on publication in grant applications.
  • Introducing grants specifically for researchers committed to open-science principles;
  • Encouraging the rapid publication of research results through preprint servers.
  • Encouraging the development of institutional repositories focused on publishing original research."