Open access science — how open publishing is changing the face of scientific research
How and why to publish your research open access
Open access science — it’s a term that, in the last few years, as risen to the forefront of most researchers’ consciousnesses. Ten years ago, only 20% of journal articles were freely accessible to the public, and a target was set for all papers published in the UK to be open access by 2020. Although this number had risen to 54% by 2016, according to a 2018 independent report, it’s fair to say we’re still a long way off this goal. But what exactly is open access science, why does it matter, and why are we struggling to make it a universal reality?
Let’s start with a definition. Open access science is the concept of freely available research, without restrictions on use. It’s the dissemination of information to whoever wants to read it. This applies to journals, conference proceedings, and also in a broader setting, academic books and texts not regularly available to the public. The philosophy of open research focuses on promoting free access to science, research, data, and ideas, that have historically been hidden behind the steep and stringent price and permission barriers that block people without journal subscriptions from accessing ground-breaking scientific research.
Currently, most scientific findings are published in periodic journals, such as The Lancet, Nature and Science. Since the first scientific journal was published in the 17th century, this medium has monopolised how we publish and read scientific research. But nowadays, these huge publications require substantial subscriptions to be paid in order to read the material. And for those not associated with an institution wealthy enough to pay for subscriptions, this can put up an impenetrable wall between the researcher and the literature they need.
Hence, governments and academic institutions alike are working towards making their science as open as possible. But this does not simply mean publishing work online and be done with it. There are a number of schools of thought on open science that encapsulate everything it means for science to be freely available. For example, part of open science can be thought of as the development of platforms to promote science, as well as new ways of assessing the impact of science. Right now, the impact of an article is based on where it is published, peer-review by other researchers in the field and the number of citations an article subsequently receives. Open access publishing can, therefore, increase the exposure and subsequent citations of a researcher’s work, aiding collaboration, and improving the chances of being granted future funding.
Many also believe it’s the democratic right of individuals to be able to access information, and hence part of the open access movement is increasing the availability of reliable science to a wider audience. In the era of fake news and unsubstantiated claims, it’s becoming increasingly important that everyone can access information and make fair judgements. The principles of open science are therefore based on the idea that, in order to conduct “efficient” research, information must be freely accessible to anyone who wants it.
“Accessing information is a human right, but it is often treated as a privilege”
And the benefits of open access science go far beyond the individual. Many funding bodies now require research to be published open access to comply with their policies, highlighting the institutional shift in the importance of open access science. Moreover, the greater accessibility of research can help to influence policy — with more information, both positive and negative — policymakers are able to make more informed decisions based on the most up-to-date science. And for government-funded research, for example, that conducted by the National Institute for Health Research in the UK, open access is great value for money for the taxpayer, who has access to the outcomes of their financial input. Open access publishing is also vital in developing countries, where institutions are less able to pay for journal subscriptions, allowing equal access to high-quality science to all countries. “Accessing information is a human right” states Erin McKiernan, an open-access advocate, “but it is often treated as a privilege”. It is our collective responsibility to make sure that research conducted in privileged institutions and countries, by privileged researchers, is accessible to every scientist, no matter their background.
So, how are open access papers published? There are now a number of different routes to make your research available:
The ‘Gold’ route — which will immediately make your research available to everyone — is to publish in an open-access journal. Although these have traditionally been of a lower impact than subscription publications, in recent years a number of influential open access publications have emerged. For example, in life and medical science, Nature Communications, PLOS One and Scientific Reports are all reputable journals that are open access.
The ‘Green’ route is an alternative route for publishing in subscription journals but still making your research open access. You first have an article accepted into a journal, then upload it into a repository, for example, European PubMed, to make it open access. The slight caveat to this route, which makes it less optimal than the Gold route, is that the subscription will generally have an embargo period of between 6 to 24 months before a manuscript can be deposited for open access. This can be a problem if your funding comes with strict stipulations on how quickly your research must become open access after its initial publication.
“Hybrid” journals also exists — these are subscription publications, but you can pay to make your specific research open access. This is one way of still publishing in high-impact, well-known journals but ensuring your research is accessible.
So open access sounds perfect, right? A world where any interested party can access ground-breaking research and researchers are able to publish their work for everyone to see. However, this is a reality yet to be fully realised.
For niche areas and early-career scientists, it can be difficult to publish important research in high-impact journals due to a lack of personal reputation. Researchers are therefore driven to publish in less influential journals just to be able to make their research open access. Add in the extortionate fees needed to make an article open access — article processing fees can be in the range of thousands of pounds — freely disseminating your research can become almost impossible.
For these reasons, sites such as SciHub have appeared. These sites upload copies of articles from subscription journals, so they are accessible to the general public. Despite its illegality, with some people having spent years in prison for uploading research from SciHub, this network of papers is critical for people still unable to pay for subscription content, or additional fees to make research open access, around the world. The fact that sites like these exist, and the huge demand for their services, demonstrates the critical need to expand open access publishing. And until the highest impact journals become open access, these problems will still exist.
Open access publishing is a huge revolution in the way we access scientific information, with the capacity to address the imbalance in access to information around the world, for researchers, the public, and policymakers alike. However, we have yet to meet aims to make all research open access, so a lot more education on its importance is needed, as well as less expensive and more influential routes to do so, to encourage all researchers to make their work open access.
This article was written following the webinar: ‘Open Access Oxford: What’s Happening?’, hosted by the Bodleian Libraries on 17th June 2020. More information can be found here.
