In 2018 the anthology “Open Divide: Critical Studies on Open Access” was published as a collection of thirteen short critical studies by academics and librarians from different continents, all of whom are concerned about Open Access. Most of them have supported and accompanied Open Access projects and initiatives for many years. Their contributions aimed to better understand the ongoing transformation of scholarly communication, at a time when Open Access was no longer just a bottom-up movement of passionate scientific communities but became a substantial part of policies and strategies from funders, governmental institutions as well as other research institutions. They tried to make this development comprehensible and to look at the transformation from perspectives that were unusual or controversial. The 2018 book examines in detail the state of Open Access and emerging developments, scrutinizes conventional wisdom on Open Access and discusses its history, methods, opportunities and challenges, criticism, and possible futures.
Completed by Niels-Oliver Walkowski (University of Luxembourg), both editors of the 2018 work, Joachim Schöpfel (Lille University) and Ulrich Herb (Saarland University and scidecode science consulting), are now tackling an update to Open Divide; however, in different guises: they are planning a twelve-month online lecture series, at the end of which a new version of Open Divide will be published. As in 2018, Open Divide is intended to provide space for otherwise unresolved controversies on open access, e.g.
- Is the lack of access or competition the main barrier within scholarly communication?
- Who are the beneficiaries of the Open Access transformation?
- Open Access promotes inclusion and transparency, but doesn’t it also bring up new diffusion to scholarly communication by promoting preprints and retaining authors’ rights?
- What is the impact of Open Access on scientific integrity?
- What are the actual costs of (Diamond) Open Access? What is its impact on scientific reputation?
- Are new publication formats supporting a more open research process, and if so, how?
- What is the role of governmental actors in the Open Access transformation?
- Which concept of the commons is promoted by Open Access, and how does it contribute to Open Access?
- Does Open Access need specific governance structures?
- What are the entanglements between Open Access, capitalism, and the knowledge economy?
- How is transparency and openness understood in Open Access?
- What epistemic injustices does Open Access feature?
The developments since 2018, e.g.
- the increase in publications,
- ever-growing political support for Open Access,
- the advent of Plan S,
- the non-happening transformation of Closed Access outlets,
- the rise of Diamond Open Access,
- the challenges posed by commercialization (especially regarding the influence on the perceived quality of some publishers’ publications and on funder policies),
- the still dominant impact of private entities on scientists’ publication behavior (see the dropping publication volumes of MDPI after the delisting of two MDPI journals from the Web of Science)
clearly indicate that the topic of Open Access remains dynamic. A new edition of Open Divide will not only document the progress made, but also address the ongoing challenges and critical perspectives to provide a more comprehensive picture of the current situation in the field of Open Access.
The series is planned to start in April, and all presentations by the speakers will be recorded (with the speakers’ consent) and made available online. It is also planned for all contributions to be published in a new anthology as an Open Access book.
Update 08.03.2025 – The speakers and topics for Open Divide 2025/2026 have been announced – please visit the overview page.