A War on Research? Or
A War on Academic Inequality?
Well, not quite a war,
but certainly a preliminary battle guaranteed to shake things up.
With the commodification of academic research output comes enhanced inequality. Journals, hosted/owned by global publishing houses, are certainly a grey area, and quite a contentious one at that. Forget paying to have your research published in them – that’s a separate issue; but focus on the access to knowledge, especially in second and third world countries, where Universities are not as well financially endowed as they may be in Australasia, Europe, or North America.
Increasingly high fees
to access journals, not only en masse, but for researchers (and research
students) to obtain single article access (electronic or reprint), is fast becoming
an additional parameter that restricts quality academic development in some
societies. With fees of upwards of USD 20 per article access, such costs are
out of reach for many emerging researchers in Africa, India, and other
countries. Yet, access to the latest research is indeed a necessity, and
certainly a costly one.
That is, until a couple
(well, more than a couple) of ‘work-around’ options were created – sites to
help researchers access downloads of current research (published elsewhere) –
free of charge. I’m not delving into the ethics here – but my personal view is
in ensuring equitable access to all research for all researchers. Fees are
fine, but, in context to the society they are being charged.
These work-around’s
though, are now at risk. At risk of being shut down in the very markets that
could be argued, need them most. Select ‘Goliath publishing houses’ have
collaborated to get court instruction to shut down access to these sites – in a
test case that not only challenges the perpetuation of inequalities, but also
could put such a spanner in the works to the research machinery, that
researchers in these locations may simply be unable to continue.
Regardless your
stance, ethical or otherwise, do review the following article which delves
further into the issue, not only with more context, but more consequences too.
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