Open access ‘must serve science, not publishers’, say universities

University group says article processing charges exacerbate “unsustainable” spending and create “unequal” access to knowledge

EU member state governments have been urged to ensure open-access scholarly publishing “serves science, not publishers” when they adopt a position on the issue next month.

Ahead of the June meeting of the Competitiveness Council—at which EU research ministers are set to adopt conclusions on research assessment and the implementation of open-science policies—the Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities warned that the scholarly publishing system is “unsustainable” in its current form.