Open Access

The privatization of academic publishing has perpetuated social inequality by historically deterring disadvantaged universities from accessing research.

A better system for disseminating scientific knowledge in the modern age would not include paywalls and subscription fees. Instead, we should aspire to a truly open science, one that is both more efficient and higher quality than the current system.

The omnibus spending bill, passed by Congress in mid-January, officially withdraws what would have been a second round of cuts mandated by last year’s sequester — the budget plan that drained billions of dollars from government programs and, in turn, $370 million from the University of California's research pool.

The UC Academic Council announced Aug. 2 that it was adopting a systemwide open access policy that aims to make all research conducted by UC faculty available free to the public.

Academic papers published by UC researchers will be available for free through eScholarship, a UC scholarly publishing service, starting in November.

On April 20, a mass email was sent out to UC Berkeley students, faculty and staff members asking them to sign a petition in support of free, open access to research publications.