Open access to research highlighted at CIES conference – OtrasVocesenEducacion.org

"Education International and its affiliates’ work on open science and the publishing industry was showcased at this year’s Comparative International Education Society (CIES) conference. The privatisation of higher education and, specifically, how to increase access to research and make science more open was the focus of events organised by Education International (EI) at the Comparative International Education Society (CIES) annual meeting in Mexico City from 25-29 March. EI took the opportunity of the gathering of many researchers and civil society actors to showcase its work under the theme “Re-mapping Global Education: South-North Dialogue”. As stated in EI’s Policy Statement on Open Access in Further and Higher Education and Research, the public good is served by the widest and most accessible dissemination of scholarly work and educational research. Unfortunately, large, commercial publishers operate on high-profit margins, based on locking research behind paywalls, asking researchers to sign off their copyrights, and profiting from scholarly output largely paid by taxpayers. Concerns over Elsevier The practices of Elsevier, the world’s largest academic publisher, are a concern. In a recent membership survey of the further and higher education and research sector, EI affiliates expressed concern at Elsevier’s high prices and practices of limiting open access. However, its profit-driven interests are increasingly being challenged by universities, civil society actors, and libraries through boycotts and other measures...."