Executive summary: Reforming the global research publishing system to improve accessibility, equity, and affordability should be a high priority given the immense potential benefits compared to the relatively modest investments needed.
Key points:
The current research publishing system is costly, inefficient, and inequitable, with most research locked behind paywalls and dominated by a few for-profit publishers.
Rough estimates suggest research publishing reforms could yield benefits in the trillions of dollars by increasing the impact of the $1 trillion in annual global research spending.
Reforms could also lead to tens of billions in annual savings by reducing research duplication and increasing researcher productivity.
Current resources spent on publishing are sufficient to sustain a reformed system, with potential cost savings of $6.5 billion per year.
The technology and initiatives exist to enable reform, but high-level political leadership and international coordination are needed to drive systemic change.
Research publishing reform has been relatively neglected as a global policy issue and warrants greater engagement from think tanks, policymakers, and funders.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, andcontact us if you have feedback.
Executive summary: Reforming the global research publishing system to improve accessibility, equity, and affordability should be a high priority given the immense potential benefits compared to the relatively modest investments needed.
Key points:
The current research publishing system is costly, inefficient, and inequitable, with most research locked behind paywalls and dominated by a few for-profit publishers.
Rough estimates suggest research publishing reforms could yield benefits in the trillions of dollars by increasing the impact of the $1 trillion in annual global research spending.
Reforms could also lead to tens of billions in annual savings by reducing research duplication and increasing researcher productivity.
Current resources spent on publishing are sufficient to sustain a reformed system, with potential cost savings of $6.5 billion per year.
The technology and initiatives exist to enable reform, but high-level political leadership and international coordination are needed to drive systemic change.
Research publishing reform has been relatively neglected as a global policy issue and warrants greater engagement from think tanks, policymakers, and funders.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.