Towards Open and Equitable Access to Research and Knowledge for Development

Towards Open and Equitable Access to Research and Knowledge for Development

Summary Points
+ Unequal access to and distribution of public knowledge is governed by Northern standards and is increasingly inappropriate in the age of the networked “Invisible College”.

+ Academic journals remain the primary distribution mechanism for research findings, but commercial journals are largely unaffordable for developing countries; local journals—more relevant to resolving problems in the South—are near-invisible and under-valued.

+ Donor solutions are unsustainable, are governed by markets rather than user needs, and instil dependency.
Open access is sustainable and research driven and builds independence and the capacity to establish a strong research base; it is already converting local journals to international journals.

+ However, as open access becomes the norm, standards for the assessment of journal quality and relevance remain based on Northern values that ignore development needs and marginalise local scholarship.

Source: PLoS Medicine

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