The push for open access to research

Universities around the world collectively pay billions of dollars so their students and professors can access research published in academic journals. Why would these institutions want to make their exclusive access available to everyone?

“Because universities see themselves as contributing knowledge to the rest of the world; because universities are concerned about issues of social justice and equity and terms of access to knowledge,” said John Willinsky, Khosla Family Professor of Education at Stanford Graduate School of Education.

On this episode of School’s In, Willinsky joins Stanford Graduate School of Education Dean Dan Schwartz and Senior Lecturer Denise Pope to discuss open access—the concept that academic scholarship should be available to everyone while the publishers are still compensated. Many universities and publishers support this idea, Willinsky said.

“The concept that high school students will have access to the latest research and knowledge to me is a valuable thing that we as educators should be standing up for,” Willinsky said.

What will it take to implement an open access model more widely? As copyright laws have been updated for music streaming, will the laws also adapt for scholarly research?

You can listen to School's In on SiriusXM Insight channel 121, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and Soundcloud.