Swarthmore Ought to Commit to Open Access Research - The Phoenix

Earlier this year, UC announced a landmark deal with Elsevier, whereby “all research with a UC lead author published in Elsevier’s extensive portfolio of hybrid and open access journals will be open access by default.” This means that researchers across the UC system are no longer limited to going through the UC Press to publish open access content and can now freely distribute their work to Elsevier’s global audience. The institution, rather than readers, foots the bill for access to research. Though this solution does not solve the underlying problem of corporate greed in academic publishing, it’s a step in the direction of equal access to information for the public. Though not many universities have followed in UC’s footsteps, some have started to transition away from “big deal” subscriptions that are comparable to a discounted subscription of a large bundle of journals. Instead, these universities have opted into a more expensive “à la carte” program that grants them the freedom to pick and choose specific journals deemed most valuable to the institution. Many universities have also announced open source resolutions that allow faculty to grant the institution they work for permission to make their research publicly available. These institutions include not only Harvard and MIT, but also liberal arts colleges including Amherst and Bryn Mawr. We urge Swarthmore College to consider a similar policy that commits to publishing research open access by mandating that student and faculty research be freely available to the general public. The college’s mission states that as an institution, it is committed to peace, equity, and social responsibility. To this end, it is backwards to continue allowing closed-access publishing and therefore implicitly endorsing predatory business models like that of Elsevier that profit from withholding knowledge from people without substantial means and from exploiting taxpayer dollars, researchers’ dedication, and public institutions. Equity and social responsibility at large extend beyond the immediate reaches of the college. As an institution of higher education, we must question whether the college is truly committed to furthering equity and undertaking social responsibility until it also commits to improving access to knowledge and information for people without access to elite institutions. Over 800 institutions worldwide, from tour-de-force research universities to small liberal arts colleges, have committed to this goal by enacting open access policies. What’s stopping Swarthmore?