Paying to publish is not the way
Free internet access to the results of research funded with public funds is a right of academia and the general public, and CLACSO understood this when it began publishing in open access 20 years ago, and promoted policies and initiatives in the region to provide free internet access to academic journals, books, research reports and new multimedia formats.
In two decades, university initiatives have led Latin America to become the region of the world with the greatest adherence to open access, by the academic field, also benefiting students and the general public.
The North has chosen a different path. For decades, they have outsourced academic publishing to the commercial sector, and that industry has become one of the most profitable in the world, now reinventing itself to capture a new market: charging for open access publications (APCs - article processing charges). In part, the industry is doing so with the support of Plan S, promoted by the European Union.
From CLACSO, and also as members of AmeliCA[1]We clearly state that charging for publishing in open access is not the right way to move towards inclusive global academic communications that respect both the right of access to the results of publicly funded research and the right to publish new research without economic barriers.[2]
It is necessary for the governments and national research councils of Latin America to be attentive to the proposals for “transformative agreements” offered by large international commercial academic publishers.[3] with market prices that have little to do with the reality of Latin America, a region that has declared its non-adherence to the FTAs[4].
With the progress of non-commercial, collaborative and cooperative initiatives, both in the North and the South, it is possible and advisable to publish in open access without having to pay.
Dominique Babini
See CLACSO's Campaign for Open Access to Knowledge: http://biblioteca.clacso.edu.ar/accesoabierto/
