Some of the arguments, counter-arguments, and political alignments for and against open access | Martin Paul Eve | Professor of Literature, Technology and Publishing

"As a result of a discussion today, I thought it worth writing out some of my observations/thoughts on a few of the arguments, counter-arguments, and political alignments for and against open access. What, in other words, is the scope of OA? Should it be for work for which authors cannot reasonably expect to make a remuneration by direct sales alone? Or should it be for all educational resources, since education is too valuable to have a price tag?

I am pretty sure that these thoughts have all already been thought and written about by Peter Suber in various places. But I really wanted to just gather this all together in one handy reference point, for my own clarity if nothing else. It’s not comprehensive but I may expand it (last edit 2016-11-06). I make no judgement on how convincing either the argument or counter-arguments are in each case, although I make many of the arguments, but virtually none of the counter-arguments, myself. I just hear them over and over again."