Open Access Research

Imagine you are a student doing a research project and every valuable study you find is blocked by a $50 paywall! Whether you are a new college student who may not be able to afford to spend $50 per article or if you are a high school student without access to expensive subscriptions, these paywalls create knowledge barriers. Research is conducted and recorded so people can develop new ideas and broaden their understanding, and that's why as a society, we need to have better access to some of this valuable information.  This article will give a comprehensive overview of paywalls in academic research, exploring their origins, their impact on the scientific community and efforts of major institutions trying to challenge them in the fight for open access research. 

As the name suggests, a paywall is a system that restricts access to content unless a user pays for a subscription. You’ve likely encountered one when trying to read an article from a major publication or research institution. These often appear as pop-ups on the screen with messages like “Subscribe Now!”

There are three common types of paywalls: soft, tiered, and hard. A soft paywall allows users to access a limited number of articles before requiring a subscription, giving them an opportunity to evaluate the quality of the content. A tiered paywall offers varied levels of access based on the subscription plan—for example, a "Pro" subscriber may have more privileges and can access more articles than a "Business" subscriber. A hard paywall restricts content unless the user has an active subscription.

Major publishers implemented paywalls with academic reports when they started printing intellectual journals. Researchers would submit their works to these prestigious publishing journals, which would put out works deemed acceptable. These journals were primarily accessible by academic institutions, libraries, and commercial subscribers for a large fee. As the digital revolution began, the frequency of paywalls only increased as publishers sought to maintain the revenue streams in the new digital world. As the internet is widely known as a tool to make information more accessible, it is very unfortunate that many institutions still utilize these gatekeeping mechanisms, limiting academic knowledge dissemination. While publishing does require funding, there are more equitable ways to cover costs without forcing either researchers or readers to bear the financial burden alone.

Advocates for open-access research argue that scientific organizations have a duty to reduce paywalls, ensuring that researchers and scientists with limited funds can access the studies they need. Institutions dedicated to education should not incite barriers that make it so only privileged students and researchers can view valuable scientific data. 

In recent years, the fight for open access research has gained significant momentum. In 2019, the UC system canceled its subscription to Elsevier, one of the world’s largest publishers of academic journals. Elsevier utilizes paywalls for a majority of their published articles, restricting access only to people with subscriptions or to institutional affiliations. The UC system opposed this model, believing that scientific research should be freely accessible to all. This retaliation to the paywall system marked a significant moment in the push for open-access publishing. Shortly after, other institutions such as Florida State University, Bucknell University, the University of Connecticut, and East Carolina University followed suit by canceling their subscriptions to Elsevier. 

Another major breakthrough was achieved in August 2022, when the White House ordered federally funded research free upon publication. This policy is to be enacted before 2026.  Given that American taxpayers contribute an average of $140 billion per year to support research, it is only fitting that we have free access to this research. 

The fight for open access research still continues, with prominent academic journals still utilizing the paywall system. As we move forward towards open access, the future of academic publishing may shift towards a system that values knowledge over profit, ultimately making research available for all that seek it. 

References

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/25/us/white-house-federally-funded-research-access.html

https://blog.aare.edu.au/open-access-break-the-paywall-reclaim-knowledge-now/

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00492-4

https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/employee-news/why-one-of-the-worlds-largest-digital-research-libraries-advocates-for-open-access-even-in-the-face-of-ai/

https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/6/3/18271538/open-access-elsevier-california-sci-hub-academic-paywalls

https://www.servicescape.com/blog/open-access-vs-paywalls-new-paradigms-in-academic-publishing

https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2023/12/07/where-did-the-open-access-movement-go-wrong-an-interview-with-richard-poynder/

https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/articles/research-paywall-open-access

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/05/activists-mobilize-fight-censorship-and-save-open-science