Open access: engage or oppose?

Steven Hall Managing Director, Institute of Physics Publishing Play (12min) Download: MP4 | MP3

Many publishers are now offering a gold open access publishing option, in the form of both pure open access journals and the hybrid model within established subscription journals. Many also permit some form of posting to repositories, with varying levels of restriction. At the same time there is unease and even strong resistance in the publishing community to the imposition of mandates by funding agencies which force researchers to use a particular model of dissemination and restrict their choice of publication. So how should publishers respond to the growing demands for open access: by engaging or opposing?