Open access publishing seeks to improve equity, but article processing charges may have the opposite effect – The Publication Plan for everyone interested in medical writing, the development of medical publications, and publication planning

"The current momentum to increase open access (OA) publishing has been touted as a way to improve equity, diversity, and inclusion in scientific research. However, to publish an article OA, authors must often pay an article processing charge (APC), which can be thousands of pounds per article. A recent report, published in Quantitative Science Studies, suggests that certain authors are more able to pay APCs and, therefore, publish OA – potentially leading to bias....

The results showed that authors were more likely to publish OA if they were:

• male
• employed at a prestigious university (defined by membership in the exclusive Association of American Universities)
• associated with a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) discipline
• receiving federal research funding (because this funding often comes with OA mandates)
• more advanced in their careers (full professor vs assistant or associate professor)...."