Shift to open access can better serve the public interest

“The ongoing transformation of the academic publishing sector has been the subject of—at times heated—debate,” writes Marc Couture. The author highlights the rise of open access publishing as a major shift in academia, adding that while it is difficult to predict how this shift will change universities, most can agree that “in the near future, research findings will be disclosed in a much different manner than they have been.” With this in mind, Couture asks how this new publishing paradigm can be used to support the public good. To this end, the author examines the roles of publishers, libraries, research funding agencies, and researchers in ensuring that open access publishing can disseminate high-quality content at a reasonable cost. University Affairs