Jefferson Pooley argues in “Scholarly Communications Shouldn’t Just Be Open, but Non-Profit Too” that we are at a crossroads when it comes to scholarly communication. There are now two factions working to develop an open science system: for-profit commercial companies and conglomerates, and non-profit presses, journals, and universities. Pooley outlines the major players on both sides, as well as their stakes in scholarly communication. He comes down, decidedly, on the side of non-profit open access publishing. “A publishing ecosystem centred on scholarly values […] is within reach,” Pooley writes; “For that to happen, we have to throw our weight behind the non-profits, before it’s too late” (n.p.). Pooley suggests that the non-profit faction could gain control of scholarly communication if libraries began seriously redirecting funds toward them and away from corporate entities. Further, he concludes, education and advocacy work is required on a peer basis, in order to convince fellow scholars to fight for an open, non-profit future for scholarly publishing.

Work cited

Pooley, Jefferson. 2017. “Scholarly Communications Shouldn’t Just Be Open, but Non-Profit Too.” LSE Impact Blog. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2017/08/15/scholarly-communications-shouldnt-just-be-open-but-non-profit-too/