Open access is shaping scientific communication

Abstract

Recognizing the importance of ensuring access to taxpayer-funded scientific knowledge and underlying data, many national governments and supranational institutions have been supporting the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities as far back as 2003. More recently, they have been implementing mandates to establish open access (OA) to scientific publications and underlying data. In this work, we examine the effects of related OA mandates and agreements on scientific communication for both the broader scientific community as well as the science communication and science policy communities. We outline key contemporary unknowns and avenues for continued research. We also explore the effects of OA “big deals” (where one or more universities and a single publisher negotiate the fees for publishing in any of the latter’s journals) and the bundling of publishing and data contracts on prices and market structure.