Open Access in Context

6. The Open Access 'Debate'

As Open Access to literature is about making scholarly publishing freely available to the public, and in some cases with commercial re-use permissions, it is a contentious issue and there are ‘debates’ surrounding it.  These debates have surfaced after the publication of the ‘Finch Report’ in the UK and the subsequent announcement that RCUK are changing their Open Access publishing mandates effective from 1 April 2013.   Some of the major arguments and counter-arguments in scholarly circles are summarised in the screen below (access the text version by following this link).

Compiled from: Consensus is difficult in open-access debate, Framing the Open Access Debate, The pros and cons of Open Access, Your Invitation to the Open Access Debate, SPARC OA Forum, A field guide to misunderstandings about open access by Peter Suber.

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