UK government urged to switch costs of publishing from readers to authors

The UK higher education sector can expect to spend between £50 million and £60m per year to support the transition to open access publishing, a government-commissioned review has concluded.

According to the Finch report on expanding access to published research findings, the government and funders should set a clear policy to support open access but the UK will have to run on a ‘mixed economy’ of subscription payments and open access arrangements for the foreseeable future.