The wealthiest university on Earth can't afford its academic journal subscriptions

“Yes, you read that right. According to a memorandum issued last week by Harvard Library's Faculty Advisory Council, the cost of its peer-reviewed journal subscriptions has become prohibitively expensive. What does it say about the world of academic publishing, the accessibility of knowledge, and the flow of information when the richest academic institution on the planet cannot afford to continue paying for its peer-reviewed journal subscriptions? ... The memorandum (which you can read in its entirety here) goes on to recommend a number of ways for Harvard faculty and graduate students to combat the exorbitant access fees of academic journals. Suggestions include submitting articles to open-access journals, ‘or to ones that have reasonable, sustainable subscription costs,’ in the interest of ‘[moving] prestige to open access’; and to consider resigning from the editorial review boards of non-open access publications. The impact that this memorandum will have on the world of academic publishing remains to be seen, but the call for a re-evaluation of scholarly journal access from an institution as respected and influential as Harvard represents a landmark achievement in the Open-Science Revolution. Harvard has a lot of weight to throw around; if its faculty and students are willing to get onboard with this, it could mark a watershed in the push to ‘move prestige to open access.’