Open Access: 'We No Longer Need Expensive Publishing Networks'

Higher education institutions need to recognise the changing world of publishing, says Rupert Gatti – it's time for academics to take matters into their own hands

While academia is in the midst of a general funding crisis, multinational publishing houses are making vast profits from disseminating publicly funded research. New open access publishing models provide cost-efficient methods for disseminating research findings, eradicate excess profits by publishers and massively widen the readership of scholarly works. The government recognises this but their current reform agenda is nowhere near bold enough.

Academics as a rule do not write their books to make money – in fact most receive only token royalties for their work. They do it to satisfy research assessments, to get hired and promoted and, most of all, to inform readers, spark debate, and contribute to the intellectual richness of their discipline.