For as long as I’ve used Apple Books (thought I’ve since switched to Readset), I have had research articles in my library starting with The Astronomical Journal. At the time, it was more out of passing interest in space mixed in with the novelty with recent discoveries at the time. Turns out I had another one of those moments on the internet where I seemingly tripped on something that would go on to radically expand my understanding in science.
The reason why I was able to collect all these articles in the first place was thanks to Open Access, a relatively new business model aimed to make scientific papers more accessible to a wider audience. In the past, it’s been rather difficult to get your hands on these journals. With all the time and man hours spent on researching, peer viewing, editing, and publishing, its no wonder they tend to cost a pretty penny. Although that money helps keep things chugging, having articles behind a paywall isn’t good for the wider public who just want to know WTF is going on. In fact, our only way of is through headlines that exaggerating the truth beyond belief or latching onto articles with dubious claims. Obviously, this wasn’t going to cut it.
So nearly all scientific journals came to an unanimous agreement to use the Creative Commons to allow for free downloading and sharing. They came up with the Open Access label to form diverse business models that allowed the general public access to varies articles and journals. Although some, such as The Astronomical Journal, have all their articles published under the CC-BY, the majority generally use a hybrid model, such as Nature. A hybrid model basically means only some articles within the same journal are published under the Commons, usually under noncommercial terms, such as Sage, while the other half requires payment.
Although as frustrating as it may be to not have all articles freely available, they gotta make their money somehow. If anything, being able to freely take a copy of their articles with you should be enough of a justification to support them. Personally, I think this strikes a nice balance.
That being said, there are plenty of caveats with this model. Open Access leaves plenty of room for predatory publishers, such as Frontiers Media. You don’t have to look far to see why. While Frontier’s “predatory” label has remained hotly debated even to this day, that has not stopped the Norwegian Scientific Index from rating them as “not academic“.
Does that mean we should give up on it all? Fuck no. Pros far outweigh the cons. The fact that a Scientific Index swooped in to provide a warning ensures people are aware. There are plenty of more reliable journals out there, ranging from Nature (of course) to PLOS and everything in between.
Open Access is just another tool that brings science to the wider audience and without much compromise. This is exactly what we need now that it is under attack and will certainly help to future proof things.