Sustaining Values and Scholarship: A Statement by the Provosts of the Big Ten Academic Alliance

"Universities are fundamentally about creating and sharing knowledge. Research and scholarship reflect the cumulative benefits of recorded knowledge. And students learn by exploring the discoveries and creative endeavors that have been shared over time. Simply stated, past knowledge fuels new knowledge, advancing global progress and individual growth. However, our systems of sharing knowledge no longer work in support of our academic enterprise.

The Big Ten Academic Alliance continues its advocacy for a sustainable and open ecosystem of publication. Collectively, our institutions’ more than 50,000 faculty are supported by over $10 billion (2017) in research funding, and our institutions have similarly invested significantly in our capacity to further our missions to advance knowledge. Together, we produce roughly 15% of the research publications in the United States...."