Part Three

Abstract

ContentsAcknowledgements vii Foreword ixPart One 1.1 Welcome to the world of academic publishing 1.2 What exactly is open access anyway? A note on licensing 1.3 Why OA? Reason 1: It's the principle Reason 2: It makes economic sense Reason 3: It makes research more accessible -which benefits society Reason 4: Open access makes the research process faster and more efficient Reason 5: Open access improves the quality and trustability of research Reason 6: It's in the public interest Reason 7: It makes research more inclusive Reason 8: It allows for inclusiveness and connectivity Reason 9: It helps the Global South Reason 10: Academic research was always intended to be open 1.4 Academic publishing: a brief history History repeating Publishing becomes big business 1.5 The internet and OA: the early pioneers The European campaign A new era for academic publishing 1.6 The Wellcome Trust and Gates Foundation pave the way for OA 1.7 The Finch Report: taking OA to a political level 1.8 Brussels gets involved; the momentum picks up 1.9 Slow progress: the move towards OA stagnates Reason 1: Big business, big financial interests and demanding shareholders Hybrids: a halfway house Reason 2: Obsession with 'impact factor' Reason 3: Lip service to DORA Reason 4: Resistance to change; reluctance to take action 1.10 Time for a radical intervention Part Two2.1 The open access envoy 2.2 Forming a plan 2.3 The impact on smaller publishers 2.4 Warning bells 2.5 Gaining allies 2.6 The European tour 2.7 Support arrives from the universities 2.8 Gaining support from the younger generation of researchers 2.9 Compromises, compromises 2.10 The Coalition is born for others it was the painful task of digging through documents from several years ago to provide sources, figures or background information. Thank you for your valuable insights and patience.All the publishers mentioned in the text were contacted with a request for an interview and given the right to respond to content. A special thanks to those who chose to respond.We would especially like to thank Frederick Fenter, Lia Noce, Agata Zaza and the rest of the team at Frontiers, without whom this book would not have been possible. Frontiers paid for Rachael's time spent writing the book, but had no influence over its content or editorial direction.Finally, this book was written with the intention of prompting debate as part of the continuing conversations happening around open access, and we welcome readers' comments and observations.