2025:Program/Lessons for the Gloabl Transition to Equitable Open Access to Research
Session title: Lessons for the Gloabl Transition to Equitable Open Access to Research
- Session type: Lecture
- Track: Legal & Advocacy
- Language: en
đ„ Session Recording: https://w.wiki/FB$q đ„
Open access unlocks research and facilitates collaborations to address the worldâs greatest challenges. Since open access (OA) was defined by the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) in 2002, a global movement has driven OA from an untested concept into the mainstream. Yet to fully realize the promise of OA that was envisioned when the BOAI was launched, we must ensure that the systems we are building are equitable and enable anyone, anywhere to both access and contribute to the global record of scholarship. To achieve this goal, I believe we need to take lessons from countries that pioneered the equitable development of scholarly communications.
This lecture is based on a series of interviews conducted with leaders in the Global South who developed equitable models of OA.
Description
Today, approximately half of all research articles are Open Access (OA) and freely available to read, yet new barriers have been created for authors to publish. These barriers, including Article Processing Charges (APCs) and the current academic incentive structure, are not impacting authors evenly. The rise in use of APCs essentially shifts the paywall from the reader to the author. There is growing recognition that open-access publishing models that rely on APCs paid by authors are neither equitable nor sustainable. Researchers, including those early in their careers, as well as those in the Global South, often lack the financial resources necessary to pay APCs.
In the Global South, where some institutions do not have the funds to purchase scholarly communications, leaders have developed their own systems and structures. What they have created is an ecosystem of community-led infrastructure, institutional support for publishing and alternative forms of research assessment which have allowed academics to be involved in the creation of the publishing enterprise and not simply to adopt the governance structures imposed by private interests. Yet these successful initiatives are under threat from commercial models being driven from the Global North.
The objective of the presentation is to share lessons for the global transition to equitable OA that have been gathered through interviews with OA leaders in Chile, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, Turkey, and Zimbabwe who are implementing equitable models.
- How does your session relate to the event theme, Wikimania@20 â Inclusivity. Impact. Sustainability?
The development of equitable open access touches on all three of the event themes of inclusivity, impact, and sustainability. Equitable open access is inclusive, as it allows anyone, anywhere to both access and contribute to scholarly communications, so anyone can read journal articles as well as publish in them. In addition, the current model for charging APCs is not sustainable, as many in the Global South, as well as those early in their careers, are unable to afford to publish in journals which charge APCs. And the development of equitable open access could have a huge impact on access to knowledge globally.
- What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?
Some experience will be needed
Resources
Speakers
- Melissa Hagemann
- Melissa Hagemann is the Director of the BOAI Org and has been at the forefront of the Access to Knowledge movement for over twenty years. She managed the Open Society Instituteâs (now Open Society Foundations) work to define Open Access through the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) and went on to support the development of the global Open Access movement. To mark the 20th anniversary of the BOAI, she spearheaded the development of new recommendations which emphasize that Open Access is not an end in itself, but a means to further ends, above all, to the equity, quality, sustainability, and usability of research.
- She is a member of the Board of Creative Commons and has served on numerous boards, including the Advisory Board of the Wikimedia Foundation, as well as the Steering Committee of the Open Climate Campaign.