9 June to 16 June

Democratising Knowledge: Promoting Open Access to research

Working at a British university it is easy to take knowledge for granted. Though even wealthy institutions can afford to subscribe to only a fraction of published research, most have well stocked libraries with subscriptions to thousands of journals and on-line resources. Universities in developing countries are less fortunate; they often rely on second-hand books and cannot afford to subscribe to current research journals. The Open Access movement (OA) aims to remove economic (and other) barriers to access, promoting peer-reviewed Open Access journals and creating repositories in which academics are encouraged to 'self-archive' their work, thus allowing anyone to access it free of charge via the internet. This allows academics to regain control of their intellectual output, and offers a route to the democratisation of knowledge.

Advocates of Open Access Repositories argue that we should all have access to publicly funded research, but not everyone is in favour. For example, publishers worry about the potential effects on their business of free access to research, and suggest that OA may damage the peer-review process. Against such concerns many people would argue that OA offers an ethically sound solution to inequities in access to the knowledge produced by researchers across the world.

Nick Sheppard has spent the last eight months working on the development of the Leeds Met Repository, which will increase the impact of the important research carried out here, while contributing to the national and international realisation of the Open Access paradigm. Colleagues who are interested are invited to contact him. (n.e.sheppard@leedsmet.ac.uk)