Ensuring a Healthy and Competitive Market for Open Access Publishing

Abstract

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Alongside improving access to the outputs of scholarly research, helping to ensure a healthy and competitive market for scholarly publishing was one of the original objectives of the Open Access movement. Early OA advocates argued that a shift towards Open Access publishing models would level the playing field between small and large publishers, provide greater price transparency, and lower the overall costs of the scholarly publishing system. However, in recent years there has been a significant growth in centralized funding models for Open Access that are modelled on, and in some cases included within, the “Big Deal” subscription bundles that OA advocates had hoped to displace. This talk will discuss the current landscape of the Open Access publishing market and highlight important risks and opportunities for the health of this market in the coming years.