The future of academic publishing: disruption, opportunity and a new ecosystem.

Abstract

It is not a hyperbole to say that the foundations of academic publishing are in a state of large‐scale disruption. That this disruption remains largely under the surface is primarily because the main users of academic research — those who work at universities — rarely suffer the consequences of lack of access due to the substantial payments universities make for subscription journals (about $281 million in total in Australia in 2017).1 Outside of universities, however, gaining online access to published research legally is neither easy nor affordable. Furthermore, as we move towards an interconnected digital future, it is becoming increasingly obvious that a system whose core business model rests on controlling access is an anachronism. On the surface, the principles of publishing academic research ought to be obvious. Research is not a “nice to have” type of information. Academic research underpins health care decisions, the development of public policy, innovation, and the generation of new knowledge. In today's interconnected world, access should mean much more than just availability to read, it also means the ability to link, mine and otherwise reuse research content through open licensing practices, as defined by a series of declarations in the early 21st century, most notably by the Budapest Open Access Initiative.2