Open access debate: Between article processing charge and radical sustainable openness

Abstract

The evolution of the Open Access (OA) movement is shown in contrast to the resistance of commercial enter-prises that intend to keep controlling the distribution of scientific information through Article Processing Charge (or pay for publishing). Actors and the scenery in dispute are shown based on the antecedents of scientific communication and the different results of scientific research, as well as the different stages of the process of access to spe-cialized publications. The relevance and viability of the Open Access movement are discussed and some clues or key points are provided for its possible sustainability. The need to emphasize the relevance is placed upon the inten-tion of rethinking the way of assessing by peer-reviewing, in order to achieve an Open Review (OR) in an extended context of free culture. It is concluded that this is an eco-nomic, social, political and epistemic phenomenon, and that the essence of the Open Access demands a model that contemplates the open and free circulation of scientific knowledge in a context of collaborative practices among authors, publishers, reviewers, and librarians; with the understanding that knowledge is a common good and that it is therefore necessary to define new patterns of produc-tion, evaluation, distribution, consumption, and owner-ship of knowledge.