Defending Academic Freedom in an Age of Censorship: Why Open Access Matters More Than Ever

"OA is often perceived as a risk: can a publisher risk shifting to an OA model; can libraries have confidence that their OA investments are worthwhile or that an OA initiative is ‘sustainable’; can authors take the risk of publishing with a less well-known Diamond OA press? But in a world where old certainties are crumbling – where censorship, platform instability and political interference pose real threats – OA offers something traditional publishing cannot: resilience. Once knowledge is openly available, it cannot easily be silenced. In this light, OA is not a gamble: it is a safeguard."