Up until now, university libraries have subscribed to journals, giving their academics access either online or in print. But libraries increasingly do not have the funds or choose not to subscribe to certain journals. Academics may therefore be unable to see research papers crucial to their work. The general public, and even some academics, who are not part of a university cannot see the fruits of publicly funded published research without subscribing to journals.Open access would change this. Its advocates propose two models. The first is a system in which the author of an academic paper pays a journal publisher for his or her peers to review the research, and for the publishing team to edit the work and market the research.
The second is a system in which an academic posts his or her research paper on the university's database - known as a repository - for all academics and the general public to see via the internet once the paper has been accepted by a journal.And last year the European commission published an independent report showing the price of scientific journals had risen 200%-300% beyond inflation between 1975 and 1995. The market, the study said, was worth up to $11bn (£5.6bn) a year.GUARDIAN
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