Will the Gates Foundation’s preprint-centric policy help open access?

"But the policy’s ramifications are unclear. “Whether this will help the open-access movement or not, it’s hard to know,” Hinchliffe says. On the one hand, more research will become freely available in preprint form, she notes. On the other, the final published versions of articles, known as the version of record, might become harder to access. Under the revised rules, after sharing their manuscript as a preprint, authors will be allowed to submit it to the journal of their choice and will no longer be required to select the OA option.

“Our decision is driven by our goals of immediate access to research, global reuse and equitable action,” says Ashley Farley, programme officer of knowledge and research services at the Gates Foundation in Seattle, Washington. Grant recipients will still be required to post their preprints under a licence that allows their contents to be reused, she says. The foundation plans to publish the full policy within the next couple of weeks...."