The impact of open access scientific knowledge

[Commentary] As anyone who conducts research knows, accessing academic journal articles online can be difficult. Researchers have to navigate a maze of paywalls and login credentials to read PDFs of journal articles. Many publishers rely on a subscription model, which is prohibitively expensive for everyone except for well-funded academic and government research institutions. Any person wanting to read primary research is mostly out of luck, even if their tax dollars sponsored the research.

Cutting the public out of the publishing loop leads to academics writing papers that can only be accessed and understood by other academics. This outcome is bad for academics, because it limits the impact of their research, and for the public, who receives only a limited understanding of new research. Finding ways to increase the diffusion of scientific knowledge will narrow the gap in understanding between scientists and the public.