Revolution in the Wings - Recent Developments in Open Access Research

Research advances because scientists, social scientists, researchers and scholars generally share their work, right? Well actually no, or rather it is a half-truth. For about 200 years, the research literature has been largely restricted behind a pay-barrier. Prior to that, research articles were shared freely through correspondence, though seminal books like The Origin of Species did not, because of print cost. Since then, research has been restricted with the invention of the print journal and recovery of costs via subscriptions imposed on readers.