#openirony refers to scholarly journal articles advocating free access to publications that are only accessible by paying a fee to the journal publisher to read the article[1][2].
This has been noted in many fields, with more than 20 examples appearing since around 2010, including in widely-read journals such as The Lancet, Science and Nature. A Flickr group collected screenshots of examples. In 2012 Duncan Hull proposed the Open Access Irony award to publicly humiliate journals that publish these kinds of papers[3]. Examples of these have been shared and discussed on social media using the hashtag #openirony (e.g. on Twitter).
Typically these discussions are humorous exposures of articles/editorials that are pro-open access, but locked behind paywalls. The main concern that motivates these discussions is that restricted access to public scientific knowledge is slowing scientific progress[4]. The practice has been justified as important for raising awareness of open access[5].
See also
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References
edit- ^ Hull, Duncan (15 February 2012). "The Open Access Irony Awards: Naming and shaming them". O'Really?.
- ^ Duncan, Green (7 August 2013). "Whatever happened to the Academic Spring? (Or the irony of hiding papers on transparency and accountability behind a paywall)". From Poverty to Power.
- ^ Schultz, Teresa Auch (2 March 2018). "Practicing What You Preach: Evaluating Access of Open Access Research". The Journal of Electronic Publishing. 21 (1). doi:10.3998/3336451.0021.103.
- ^ Marwick, Ben (15 July 2020). "Open access to publications to expand participation in archaeology". doi:10.31235/osf.io/v9kfy.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Eve, Martin Paul (21 October 2013). "How ironic are the open access irony awards?". Martin Paul Eve.