Open Access

Analysis and Comment (23)

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Taxpayer-funded research should be out there for everyone to access. muffin9101985/Flickr

What is open access and why should we care?

By Danny Kingsley

The issue of open access to research findings has been in the media for a number of reasons lately, some positive – the release of the Australian Research Council’s (ARC) open access policy – and some…
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Non-publication of clinical trial data is a waste of research resources, among other things. Esther Dyson

Register all trials, report all results – it’s long overdue

By Paul Glasziou

If researchers go to the effort of getting funds, recruiting patients, and following them up, you would think that they would be keen to publish the results. So it’s surprising that our best estimates…
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Obesity, over-diagnosis, the NDIS, vaccinations and open access for genetic information were just some of the issues covered in 2012. Kylie May; shutterstock.com; Morberg; Pranjal Mahn

2012, the year that was: Health + Medicine

By Fron Jackson-Webb, The Conversation

It promised to be a full year of reforms: pokies legislation, front-of-pack food labels and a dental system that doesn’t cost those in need an arm and a leg. But while we did see cigarette companies forced…
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Is open best? Or closed? It depends how you look at it. Jer Kunz

Explainer: what is the open movement?

By Rob Chalmers

You’ll have read on this site, and perhaps others, about the push towards “open access” for journal articles. But what is open access, and how does it fit into the wider “open movement”? The topic has…
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The older journals have greater histories, so researchers are almost coerced into publishing in them. Bridget Coila

Open access: everyone has the right to knowledge

By Alessandro R Demaio, University of Copenhagen; Bertil Dorch, University of Copenhagen, and Fred Hersch

This week, we celebrate open access week – an event aimed at bringing attention to this rapidly emerging form of scientific publication and its ethical imperatives. Traditionally, knowledge breakthroughs…
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It’s easy to put open-access publishing on a pedestal, but it’s important to consider the ramifications first. smileham

Open-access science: be careful what you wish for

By Geraint Lewis

In recent weeks we’ve seen a renewed push to introduce open access to science research publications. The concept is simple: research that is paid for by public funds should be made freely available, not…
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Open-access journals are gaining credibility and prestige. rvm_71

Open access will change the world, if scientists want it to

By Terry Sunderland, Centre for International Forestry Research

While the Australian Research Council considers its policy on open-access publication and others within the scientific community call for the increased sharing of scientific data, the British are already…
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Open health is one side of “open data” policies being pursued by countries all over the world. Kate Ter Haar

Open health: what is it and why should you care?

By Nick Evans and Adam Henschke

“Open health” captures a broad set of information technologies that will change the way we approach health and health care. It encompasses “ehealth” (the storage and provision of personal medical information…
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There’s an ongoing push to open the world of academic knowledge to the wider population … for free. Jackman Chiu

Open-access journals: a perspective from within

By Jonathan Carroll

There’s an ongoing debate in the world of academic publishing about whether the public should be allowed open access to research publications we all pay for in the first place. “If we are paying for this…
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The global movement towards open access publishing has taken another step with the release of the Finch report. Flickr/liikennevalo

Finch inquiry’s open access tune won’t resonate in Australia

By Colin Steele and Danny Kingsley

A committee convened to examine how UK-funded research could be made more accessible released its report this week. The committee, chaired by Dame Janet Finch, was set up last year by Minister for Universities…
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Traditional publishing methods could soon be a thing of the past. Unhindered by talent

Academic publishing must go digital to survive

By Agata Mrva-Montoya

Most forms of publishing across the globe are in a state of flux. But university-based scholarly publishing faces a set of challenges all of its own. How can an industry whose target audience is so highly…
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If the US Research Works Bill passes, public access to US research will be restricted. Flickr/the Firebottle

A small bill in the US, a giant impact for research worldwide

By Danny Kingsley

Over the Christmas period, a short Bill was introduced into the US House of Representatives. The Research Works Act aims to make it illegal to require researchers to make their work publicly available…
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Academic knowledge is boxed in by exclusive, expensive journals.

Scientist meets publisher: the video

By Alex O. Holcombe

Scientists – myself included – are increasingly frustrated by the outmoded academic publishing system. The situation as it stands made sense in the pre-internet era, when one needed a printing press to…
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Universities already stockpile academic papers so they can report their output to the government. But stockpiling the wrong version of the paper can restrict their right to make the paper available on open access. Flickr/Gideon Burton

How one small fix could open access to research

By Danny Kingsley

Providing equitable access to the findings of scholarly research is an expensive and vexed business, as many recent stories here on The Conversation have highlighted. Open access offers a way to freely…
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Breaking free of the stranglehold of academic publishers holds appeal — but what are the dangers? Flickr

The pros and perils of ditching academic publishers

By Dorothy Bishop, University of Oxford

There are three tensions in the field of academic publishing (1) who pays to publish research? (2) who decides what gets published? and (3) who takes any profits? In the traditional model, based on publishing…
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A growing number of academic institutions are building free online databases of their scholarly output. But publication in a big name academic journal still holds cachet for most academics. Flickr/mandiberg

Explainer: Open access vs traditional academic journal publishers

By Stephen Cramond, University of Melbourne

As the cost of accessing academic journal articles increases, a growing number of academic institutions are building publicly accessible databases of scholarly work. But how much of a threat to the traditional…

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