Subsidizing truly open access | Science

"In his News In Depth story “Dutch push for a quantum leap in open access” (15 April, p. 279), M. Enserink details the European Union initiative to make all EU-published papers open access (OA) by 2020, echoing previous European ideas (1). We agree with the initiative's goals but not with its emphasis on a Gold OA model, in which authors pay for both editorial production and the publisher's profit margin. Mesmerized by a quick fix for wealthier European nations and institutions, Berlin 12 Open Access (2) and the Max Planck Digital Library (3) support Gold OA. However, the Association of Research Libraries and others have pointed out that Gold OA publishing fees constitute a barrier to full global participation in scholarly communication and exacerbate economic and political marginalization (2, 4, 5).

We advocate a fundamental shift to a Platinum OA system, in which external subsidies, instead of authors, cover publication fees, allowing free access to scientists submitting papers as well as those accessing published content. Many projects and models are exploring the Platinum OA landscape (6, 7), and about 70% of OA journals already have this system (8, 9). However, Platinum OA could be expanded if noncommercial publishers (e.g., scholarly societies) prioritized open communication over short-term profit [e.g., from contracts with commercial publishers (10)]; in tandem, academic institutions can incrementally reinvest institutional resources currently dedicated to paying commercial access charges in platinum OA. This plan would open access to the entire scholarly community, avoid drainage of funding out of academia, and realign scholarly communication with academic and socially equitable goals."