Open Access as a Reassertion of the Values of Science

Abstract

This paper traces the formation and eventual rupture of an implicit agreement between science and commercial publishers resulting in the rise of the open access movement within broader advocacy for a more open science. Open access, it is suggested, can be interpreted as a push from within the academy to restore the communal role of publishing within science, and to establish new publishing arrangements that embed the core values of science. The paper concludes that while systemic change may be slow, open access scientific publishing cannot be dismissed as fad; the alignment between the core values of science and an approach to the dissemination of knowledge that is more communal, ensures the disruptive and restorative power of open access scientific publishing.

Keywords: open access, publishing, communalism, open science