Open Access Week: Author's Views on OA

Jørgen Carling is a Research Professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). He has provided open access to a number of his articles and has also written a very handy guide on self-archiving. Here are his thoughts on why he chooses to make his work OA:

"I try to publish open access as much as possible so that my work can reach more readers, especially in the Global South. It is not always easy, though, since the fees for OA licenses in subscription journals are so high. Unfortunately, there are not many high-quality, fully open access journals in our field. Sometimes it's therefore necessary to settle for the second-best option: to publish in a regular, subscription-based journal and to post the manuscript online in a repository after the embargo period (i.e. 'green' OA).

Although I am passionate about open access, I also acknowledge the important work that goes on behind the scenes to produce a good journal. There are real costs that somebody needs to cover. It just shouldn't always have to be readers (or their institutions).

Besides trying to publish scientific papers without paywalls, I think it is important to disseminate the insights in other free formats, such as blog posts, videos or policy briefs. Open access is, after all, only one part of making research-based knowledge accessible to as many people as possible."

Thanks, Jørgen!