Open For Whom?: Research Equity for Campus and Community

Biennial Open Access Conference at San Jose State University

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Library, Room 225

October 21, 2019. 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

The widening gap between research output in the Global North and South is arguably an extension of historical structural power when colonial capitals were centers of knowledge production and poorer colonized countries were providers of data. In recent times, the escalating costs of subscription-based scholarly communication and copyright barriers have deepened the crisis because scholars in the Global South often can’t afford access to expensive journals that publish the most cutting edge research by the best scholars in the Global North. Moreover, APCs or article processing charges required for Open Access publishing pose a monetary challenge owing to currency conversion rates. So, scholars in the Global South are limited and sometimes excluded from research and scholarly communications.

For whom is the research made accessible? How is the research made accessible? What should scholars do? Why should they do it? How will scholars find Open Access research? How can librarians work with scholars both in the Global South and North?