The Unintended Consequences
Where do we go from here?
Put this in the category of “trying to say what a lot of people won’t.”
The OA movement began with a mission — roughly, to lower costs, make information free to end-users, unseat the large commercial publishers, and “democratize” science, whatever that means.
To date, the effects have been the opposite, as large publishers have grown larger and more influential, end-users are exhausted and tuning out, costs have only increased, and democracy itself feels more tenuous than ever, as does our relationship with science.
When it comes to unintended consequences, the OA movement has been a doozy.
Let’s rattle off a few that come easily to mind: