Concerns over open-access processing charges

Organisations including the British Academy and the UK Council of Research Repositories have expressed concerns over article processing charges under open access in evidence to a parliamentary inquiry.

In its contribution to the House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Committee’s inquiry into open access, the British Academy expressed concerns that publishing decisions at universities could in the future be taken by administrators rather than researchers. The academy says that such administrators might be “unduly influenced” by varying levels of APCs, and therefore ration publication through gold open access, preventing some research from being made available.