Book Review: Open Access

This is a very important book, which, I suggest, is a must read for all scholars and researchers who publish their own work or consult the peer-reviewed published work of others––in other words, virtually all academics. As Suber notes, catching the attention of overworked, underpaid academics is a difficult task. Understanding the basics of Open Access (OA) publishing is not really a career option anymore but a core requirement. The time taken to read this well written rather slim volume will repay the reader many times over...

Peter Suber is a Faculty Fellow at Harvard; Senior Researcher at the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition; and Research Professor of Philosophy at Earlham College. He is known as the de facto leader of the worldwide OA movement. The book is divided into 10 sections covering all aspects of OA including; copyright, economics, future scenarios, policies, funding agencies and so on.

One does not need a crystal ball to see that the current laissez-faire capitalist economic model is no longer globally sustainable. Recent global financial disasters and difficulties indicate that a new sustainable model is urgently required. OA and OS are part of that new model and the rapid expansion and acceptance of these movements and associated practical outcomes is an encouraging sign. Very few would expect a company not to make a profit but it is the size of the profit that is the contentious issue. It is difficult to justify the outrageous cost of commercial Office Software Suites when OS applications, such as Open Office, are totally free, equally as good and completely compatible!

If you doubt the relevance of this obscene profit making to academic publishing, Suber presents the sobering fact that the largest journal publisher earned higher profits than the world's largest oil company, “In 2010, Elsevier's journal division had a profit margin of 35.7 percent while ExxonMobil had only 28.1 percent.” (p. 32)...