Open Access: A Change in Academic Publishing with Limited Reach?

Abstract

A large part of the academic literature sits behind a paywall, which is an obstacle for researchers in their pursuit of new knowledge, particularly at lesser funded institutions. The blame is often put on an outsourced scholarly publishing infrastructure based on subscription-based journals and commercial publishing houses focused on revenue. The proposed solution to the problem is open access, which can be accommodated either by publishing articles in dedicated gold open access journals that are based on a different business model than subscription, or by depositing a copy of the article in a repository. Open access has become a hot political topic and adopted in science policy worldwide, especially in Europe. Science policy has also introduced a commercial logic to open access. The argument is that the academic literature is an important source of knowledge, not only for researchers, but also for both the public and private sector with a potential for economic returns.

With the international policy-push for open access and the social contract with science as a backdrop, the thesis address how open access affects the wider research system (which stretches outside academia) and what the obstacles are to its introduction. Does open access deliver the benefits for external users as argued for in policies? How does open access affect the science system and how is open access adopted in research performing institutions? Central concepts in the thesis are research evaluation, the reward system of science, and the strong incentives connected to publishing in high-ranking journals. A transition to open access as prescribed by science policy must therefore take researchers priorities into account.