The Open Access 2020 Initiative (OA2020) seeks to foster innovative forms of scientific inquiry and enable faster and more impactful communication of results by transforming the way research is published and disseminated. Read an outline of the OA2020 approach towards these goals in our Executive Summary. […]
If the aim is to transition to an open information environment, supporting OA publication of articles in hybrid journals will prove to be merely a very expensive failure, unless we use the experience as an opportunity for discovery. Similarly, the offsetting agreements currently being tested in a number of countries are stepping stones the transition—national efforts which, when taken together, have impact on a global scale. With China now represented in the OA2020 Initiative, the collective potential of our transformative actions is stronger than ever before, but it will take continued, concerted efforts to achieve the transition. Libraries should not be discouraged but empowered by the lessons learned and push forward with more and improved iterations of transitional agreements and other strategies to divest of the subscription system in order to invest in open access. […]