Open access is a publishing model that aims to remove barriers to scholarly research worldwide. While significant progress has been made toward making this a reality, there is still considerable work to be done to establish a truly global publishing ecosystem. Indeed, open access publishing in the Global South faces many more challenges compared to the Global North.
With open access, issues remain surrounding inclusion, affordability, and infrastructure—especially concerning the Global South. The principles of equality are still the foundations of open access; now it’s just a matter of ensuring the model can accommodate everyone.
Open access and equality
From its inception, equality has been a fundamental principle of the open access movement.
Open access began as a way to alleviate the financial burden on library budgets when it came to paying for access to scholarly research. In the 1990s, the cost of journals rose significantly, and some libraries were slowly priced out of educational material. Open access ensured that no academic institutions were at a significant disadvantage financially when it came to acquiring research.
Indeed, equality is at the heart of open access publishing. However, the idea of equality within open access is multi-faceted. The issue of affordability, while pressing, isn’t the only concern to consider.
Although significant progress has been made in terms of bringing access to people around the world, the open access publishing model is still lacking in many areas. For example, we must observe how the current model marginalizes researchers from lower-income countries and institutions in the context of an educational system that favors Anglo-American research and journals.
An unfair global publishing ecosystem?
Global models and systems have always struggled with inequality. The principles of a global system can be shared worldwide. However, certain countries – such as those in the Global South – face greater limitations in terms of funding and resources. This leads to a centralization of influence in the Global North, with biases and inequalities naturally becoming entrenched in the system.
The mission of open access has highlighted such inequalities within our global publishing ecosystem. The Global South appears to be consistently at a disadvantage when it comes to open access opportunities. Some of the issues they face include funding only being reserved for those on permanent contracts; limited institutional resources; authors having to provide large subsidies to publishers; lack of information on open access, resulting in muted enthusiasm; high cost of internet; and language restrictions preventing audience engagement.
Of course, some of these issues appear in the Global North. However, the Global North is more likely to have the infrastructure or networks in place to find alternative ways of overcoming such issues. And the more open access evolves and progresses in wealthier countries, the more these economic and institutional imbalances in lower-income countries are exacerbated.
So, are there ways to improve the state of open access publishing in the Global South?
Integrating the Global South more effectively
One of the biggest barriers to equal opportunities in the Global South is the lack of funding support.
To realize a truly global publishing ecosystem, it’s essential that open access fees are reasonable, transparent, and globally equitable. The Global South faces greater difficulties in finding the means to enable OA at an institution-wide level. As a result, the financial burden of publishing as OA often falls to authors.
There are open access schemes being trialed to try and overcome these barriers. In 2024, Elsevier launched the Geographical Pricing for Open Access (GPOA) pilot. The scheme involved Elsevier reducing its journal APCs based on the corresponding author’s geographic location. The aim, according to Elsevier Managing Director Stuart Whayman, is to help establish a ‘globally equitable model that reflects local economic circumstances to help researchers in low and middle-income countries to publish open access and contribute to scientific advancement for the benefit of society.’
Elsewhere, Research4Life is an inclusive platform hosting peer-reviewed knowledge. The platform has already provided over 132,00 resources from 180 international partners to many low-income countries. Without this aid, institutions in these countries would not have been able to afford access to research.
Enabling accessibility and offering discounts and waivers is perhaps one of the most common inclusion policies. But we need more than just small-scale financial adjustments. The North–South publishing divide needs to be addressed on a wider, much more fundamental scale.
Changing the narrative
To become a more ethical and truly global publishing ecosystem, the narrative has to be changed around publishing divisions.
As a global publishing community, we should aim to create a collective narrative of scholarly ethics by engaging regional and international partners and by contextualizing the Global South’s issues, concerns, and realities. What works in the Global North will not necessarily translate to the Global South. The unique structural and DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) issues the Global South faces need to be addressed appropriately. This means paying respect to the particular conditions of scholarly publishing in those parts of the world.
To help do so, we must change the narrative surrounding equity. It’s not the Global North that should be seen as the epitome of publishing standards, demanding the Global South catch up or join its mission. Instead, open access publishing in the Global South must be supported in recognizing its potential to grow out of the current limitations.
While financial and educational support from the Global North will help them to do so, the Global South must also recognize its potential through inter-country or South–South collaboration. Experts from the Global South can influence capacity development by supporting scholarly communications initiatives in various low-income countries. This might involve organizing peer review workshops or Southern journals publishing Southern articles beyond the publisher’s country.
Through the Global South realizing inter-country collaboration, the narrative shifts away from the Global North acting as saviour or the centre of global publishing. Instead, the Global South and Global North can strive to meet each other in the middle. As a result, a truly global publishing ecosystem, dependent on the specific contexts of each component, can grow.
Raising awareness around equality
Changes at institutional and policy levels can help bring us closer to equality within publishing. But it’s equally important we raise awareness around equality, too.
MDPI Books has a Book Series entitled “Transitioning to Sustainability” dedicated to doing just that. The series takes an interdisciplinary approach to exploring the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Its purpose is to bring together voices from all around the globe, raising issues surrounding sustainability and equality.
Elsewhere, JAMS also highlights the importance of small journals, even in a landscape primarily dominated by big, mainstream publishers.
The more awareness we raise for those less recognized within publishing, the quicker we can realize a truly global publishing ecosystem.