RUL Scholarly and Professional Activity Committee

Abstract: Based in part on the author’s conference presentation for the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Science, Technology and Human Rights Conference 2020, held this past October, this presentation will present the current state of Open Access (green and gold) as we move into 2021. With the pandemic disrupting scholarly communication and accelerating the numbers of preprints (for example), we see a new imperative for Open Access to the results of research. However, the question of “who will pay?” for increasingly expensive APCs (article processing charges) and the inequities inherent in the move of publishers to adopt OA is pressing. Green OA (repository-based) is here to stay, and RUL is responsible for implementing the university’s OA Policy via SOAR. Beyond the human rights issues, this presentation will attempt to provide an overview of the current scholarly communication landscape as we head into 2021, now that OA is deemed “inevitable.” What are the implications for major research libraries of a large scale move toward OA? What are the responsibilities of those that work in those libraries? Where is the money at Rutgers for OA, and who will manage the need for “author pays?”