Stuart M. Shieber discusses ecumenical open access and the Finch report principles

Use the link to access the full text essay published in Debating Open Access from the British Academy.  The principles underlying the Finch report – access, usability, quality, cost and sustainability – are broadly to be commended, writes Stuart M. Shieber in his chapter for Debating Open Access, a new publication from the British Academy. However, the report’s specific recommendations are short-term prescriptions that may lead to a limited increase in the amount of OA at a very high cost. In particular, it equates open access journals and hybrid journals, offering support to both of these models. However, the hybrid model entrenches the dysfunctional subscription model to the exclusion of the competitive and sustainable open access model. A preferable approach is to require authors to provide open access, but to be ecumenical about how that is achieved – through self-archiving or open access or hybrid journals – while providing support only for true open access journals.