2025 OPEN ACCESS POLICY, Gates Foundation

"The foundation’s Open Access policy has driven real change in scholarly publishing, spurred by a broader movement to make research more accessible. Despite this progress, there is more to be done. To meet the urgency demanded by today’s greatest global challenges, there must be a culture shift in publishing that ensures the prioritization of equity and access over prestige and personal interest. • The research community agrees that Article Processing Charges (APCs), better known as Open Access fees or ‘hybrid’ Open Access, are inequitable. Their high costs often make them available to only the most well-funded researchers. • APCs are the predominate Open Access business model and, as a result, compliance has risen steadily but flattened. • New, more equitable models have not gained traction because publishers are slow to change and have pushed back when revenue is threatened...."