Redistributive implications of open access

Abstract

This article addresses the virtues of gold open access from the perspective of its impact on social science scholarly associations and their members. OA has clear and obvious virtues, including redistribution downward and outward of research findings. But it also has the potential for upward redistribution or narrowing of the realm of publication, which this author finds troubling. A central question is who will cover APCs. The article identifies five potential sources of the necessary funds or ways to reduce the funds that are necessary, and discusses problems with each in terms of likely gainers and losers. It also identifies two potential substantive concerns about the kinds of social science scholarship most amenable to open access. It concludes by observing that, as is often the case, an apparently narrow technological innovation opens large issues— organizationally, substantively, and even morally.