Industrial taskforce urges opening access « Research Communications Strategy

"This is where open access to articles and data cuts into the “real world” and benefits can be seen outside the research community. Some sceptical publishers continue to argue against Green OA and for locking down copyright on the grounds of (unproven) economic impacts on their business. Open Access journals, while developing, are still far from the norm: “hybrid” journals continue to charge high fees on top of their continuing subscription costs. The response from much of the publishing world has been to see open access as an additional profit line, or as something to allow by exception, rather than a recognition of a different and new way of working and of OA as playing a part in a far larger working environment. This report highlights that there is an economic world outside the publishing industry too, and one which is crying out for the benefits of OA. Given the potential for open access to research to benefit this wider economic picture, as well as collaborative developments between research institutes and industry, restrictive arguments become increasingly untenable. If funders want OA, researchers want OA, institutions want OA and industry wants OA, why are some publisher’s contracts still stopping this from happening?"