What's wrong with traditional publication methods?
Open Access makes research available to everyone
- “For four decades, subscription prices have risen significantly faster than inflation and significantly faster than library budgets”. These skyrocketing journal prices have led to an access crisis. As institutions are forced to cancel subscriptions because of rising prices, fewer individuals have access to scholarly research: most of which was publicly funded and provided to publishers at no cost. Most faculty are aware of gaps in their libraries, but generally unaware of their causes, and unaware that the problems are systemic 
Open Access leads to research being cited more often and more quickly
- Openness facilitates visibility, discovery, and re-use. It can accelerate the rate of scholarly exchange and progress in research.
Funding agencies are requesting or mandating Open Access
- Increasing numbers of funding bodies are mandating or requesting OA to the results of the research they fund.
Research organizations are encouraging or mandating Open Access
- Research and academic institutions and departments are establishing policies encouraging or mandating OA to research outputs, including Harvard University, Stanford University, and MIT.
- To find out more, visit our page on Institutional Open Access Mandates.
- See Suber, P. (2012). Open Access. MIT Press.