Experts disagree on whether cost of publishing research will fall, as open access grows, MPs hear

Experts in research and publishing disagree over whether the cost of getting research published is likely to drop as the United Kingdom moves to an open access system for published studies.

MPs on the parliamentary business, innovation, and skills committee quizzed witnesses on 16 April as part of their inquiry into the government’s open access policy.

The government has accepted the recommendations of the Finch group report Accessibility, Sustainability, Excellence: How to Expand Access to Research Publications, published in June last year, for a system of publishing research in open access or hybrid journals, funded by article processing charges (APCs).1 2

The group and the government’s preference is for a “gold” model of open access, in which …