Big Foundations Keep Making Strides for Open Access Research

Tate Williams | The debate over open access publication of research is one we’ve followed with quite a bit of interest, and not just because philanthropy has planted a few stakes in the issue. As in many fields in recent decades, technology has unlocked all kinds of new opportunities and tensions when it comes to the exchange of research findings.

In the case of the open science debate in particular, critics challenging traditional peer review and publication impacts the speed of progress, as well as research in developing countries and outside of established institutions.

The tension is between the traditional journal model, in which libraries and universities pay often very high fees for published research, and a more open model, in which anyone can read articles following peer review, and even before, in some cases.

The number of open access journals has ballooned in recent years, with some philanthropic support in the form of both grants and pressure exerted by powerful private funders.

But some of the most prestigious journals out there still cling to the paywall model, even as those powerful funders have tested that grip.

The most direct confrontation lately involves the Gates Foundation. While other funders have required that research they pay for be open access, Gates released a particularly strict open access policy a few years ago, which went into effect in 2017. That pitted the foundation against journals like Nature, Science, New England Journal of Medicine and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, as Gates grantees became unable to publish in such titles.
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