9 | The Future is Open Access Roshae Miller, Department of Communications Open Access has been a recent topic of discussion for academia and publishing agencies. The conversation surrounding the movement has a lot to do with sustainability, quality and academic infringement. However, the quality of any literature, especially a scholarly journal, is a function of its authors and editors, not its access policy, and depending on the selected model, Open Access does not necessarily infringe on academic freedom. Most importantly, article publishing charges (APCs) have been introduced by some publishers to make Open Access practicable, while remaining free to readers. Keywords: open access, sustainability, quality, academic infringement Close to completing a two-year research project on vascular and interventional radiology, Yanique discovered that she was unable to gain access to a newly published scholarly article whose abstract seemingly overlapped with her own research topic. Strapped for cash, Yanique went to see the librarian at her school to find out if the institution could purchase the article. The librarian proceeded to tell her that the school had been negotiating with that specific publishing company for some time, but was unsuccessful in striking a deal regarding the cost of their service. Disappointed, Yanique completed her research with thoughts of how that article might have helped her improve her thesis, if only she could access it. Research is a pertinent part of learning that is not only required in the academic community, but for all professionals (Zarah, 2017). Information gathered from conducting research, fuels new ideas that scholars and professionals alike rely heavily on to assist with understanding, problematizing, improving or solving the various phenomena prevalent in society (Sprac, n.d.; UNESCO, 2015). The information revolution brought on by the internet has played an enormous role in having a plethora of research journals published online. Journal articles are increasingly Copyright © 2018 Miller. Open Access 84 being offered and retrieved in digital formats as opposed to paper editions (Laakso et al., 2011). Locating research has become faster and easier, but not necessarily more accessible, because many scholarly published articles are hidden behind a paywall. This has prompted an ongoing debate in the academic publishing industry about whether or not online literature should be made Open Access (Banks, 2004; Gwynne, 2017; Suber, 2004). Open Access is a model for retrieving scholarly peer reviewed journals online, free of charge with little or no copyright restrictions (Laakso et al., 2011; Sprac, n.d.; Suber, 2004; UNESCO, 2015). The existing procedure for sharing research is being stifled by an old model that dismisses the presence of new technology (Sprac, n.d.). Opponents of Open Access argue that it not a viable model for producing quality scholarly journal articles (Shaw, 2013). However, champions for Open Access have been advocating to increase the information available to scholars and professionals to ultimately improve their quality of education and work (Manista, 2017; Sprac, n.d.). Still, amidst the tug of war between those for or against Open Access, it undeniably represents a fast-growing segment in the publication of academic journals. This paper will explore the history of Open Access, the various business models as well as a few arguments surrounding the movement. The Emergence of Open Access The high production cost for physical journals accompanied burdensome distribution, a long waiting time for authors to get published or be listed in indexing services, increasing subscription rates for maintenance and archiving of back volumes. This has led to “Serials Crisis” where prices for journals, have risen beyond the budget that most libraries or universities could afford (Panitch & Michalak, 2005; UNESCO, 2015; Laaskso et al., 2011). Responding to these challenges, university libraries began developing initiatives for Open Access in the 1990s. In 2002, the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI), a statement of principles relating to Open Access, was released to the public. An old tradition and a new technology have converged to make possible an unprecedented public good. The old tradition is the willingness of scientists and scholars to publish the fruits of their research in scholarly journals without payment, for Moving through the Grey: Publishing in Action The Publishing Business: Transformations and Opportunities (ISI6314 – Winter 2018) Open Access 85 the sake of inquiry and knowledge. The new technology is the internet. The public good they make possible is the world-wide electronic distribution of the peer-reviewed journal literature and completely free and unrestricted access to it by all scientists, scholars, teachers, students, and other curious minds (BOAI, 2002, para 1). The Bethesda Statement on Publishing Open Access was another initiative that unfolded in 2003, which defined and supported the Open Access movement. The Berlin Declaration on Open Access was a third important statement which followed the BOAI and the Bethesda Statement on Publishing Open Access. This statement acknowledged the increasing importance of the internet and the previous discussions on the need for open access. These initiatives surfaced in response to the increase in publication prices and accessibilities issues with research, alongside the belief that research funded by taxpayers should be able to be accessible by them free of charge (Gwynne, 2013; Laakso et al., 2011; Manista, 2012; UNESCO, 2015). This is because a majority of researches are funded by the government or through institutions. Researchers publish their findings without the expectation of payment. Other researchers review the submitted work through the process of peer review, which is also free of charge. However, once the work is published, those who contributed to the research (taxpayers and the institutions that supported the research itself), have to pay again to access the findings (Manista, 2012; Sprac, n.d.; UNESCO, 2015). Open Access Business Models Retrieving scholarly peer reviewed journals online for free can be regarded as the main function of the Open Access movement. Publishers, who enforce Open Access, have sort to apply compatible business models for the movement. As a result of this, different categories of Open Access have emerged (Burtle, 2017; Meadows, 2012). These forms of access and usage varies from a free model in which there is no associated cost with “full permission to copy, download, print, distribute, archive, and even change format to its usage with varying restrictions” (UNESCO, 2015, p. 3). Some categories carry a publishing fee or article processing charges (APCs) as a way to generate funding for Open Access publishing. The APC method was Moving through the Grey: Publishing in Action The Publishing Business: Transformations and Opportunities (ISI6314 – Winter 2018) Open Access 86 developed in 2002 by a start-up publishing company called BioMedCentral (Bjork, 2012). It is important to note that Open Access does not necessarily mean free. The costs attached to Open Access journals are distinctly different and mostly consists of copy-editing and web-hosting. According to Laakso et al. (2011), “Open Access business models have been introduced in parallel to these traditional subscription-based models” (p. 1). There are three levels of access within academic publishing that determine how open and accessible scholarship is for a reader. The first level is often referred to as “toll access”, which indicates that a work is available for a price (a “toll” fee). This level of access is applicable to scholarship that has both financial barriers and usage rights). The second level is “Gratis Open Access”, which removes just the financial barrier; in this way, the work is accessible for free but has usage rights. The third level, “Libre Open Access”, is the most accessible, and removes financial and some usage rights barriers. As Suber explains (2012), within Libre Open Access, there are various levels of usage rights: • Public domain - works in public domain may be used in any way without violating copyright. • Creative Commons license (CC-0) - for authors to assign their works to the public domain. • Creative Common Attribution license (CC-BY) - allows any use so long as the work is attributed to the original author • Creative Commons, Attribution-NonCommercial (CC-BY-NC) - requires attribution but blocks commercial use. • Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives (CC-BY-ND) - requires attribution and allows commercial use but blocks derivative works (p. 69). In addition to the level of access, Open Access is also typified by its mode of delivery. Here too, there are three categories of delivery: (1) Gold Open Access, (2) Green Open Access and (3) Hybrid or Paid Open Access. Gold Open Access refers to work published in a scholarly journal that makes its articles immediately available online and free of charge to members of the public (Christensen, 2013). According to Vincent and Wickham, Green Open Access is work that is made publicly available in a repository after serving a period of restriction or embargo (as Moving through the Grey: Publishing in Action The Publishing Business: Transformations and Opportunities (ISI6314 – Winter 2018) Open Access 87 cited in Christensen, 2013). The Hybrid Open Access model refers to traditional closed access subscription journals, which offer individual authors