Open access research repositories provide diversity and innovation publishers can’t match

by Ginny Barbour If there’s one thing that it’s hard to disagree with, it’s that open access is here to stay in the Australian research landscape. There is impetus from overseas initiatives such as Plan S from cOAlition S[1] and bodies such as UNESCO in its Open Science Recommendation,[2] and interest and support from the Australian Chief Scientist.[3] The NHMRC consulted on revising their OA policy[4] last year in Aotearoa New Zealand, the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, has released a report on open access there.[5] Where there is a lack of consensus is in how open access should be achieved. The majority of governments, international bodies such as UNESCO, institutions, researchers, and publishers along with groups such as Open Access Australasia (the group I work for), and prominent international organisations such as COAR[6] and SPARC[7] are committed to a diverse ecosystem of open publishing supported through a variety of means, nicely summed up in the phrase “bibliodiversity”.[8] [...]