Institute of Development Studies: Open Access: are Southern voices being stifled?

Researchers from developing countries struggle to get their voices heard in a global publishing environment which favours Northern voices. At the same time, information users in developing countries face exorbitant fees when they try to access research which is locked away in prestigious and expensive northern journals.

Open Access is concerned with the right of the public to access to publically funded research. It is about ensuring that research literature is made available online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. How can this vision of Open Access become a reality for researchers and research users in developing countries? And as open access debates move beyond the journal, what does open access offer to research communication for development?