Current research
Open Access & Open Science
About 68% of research works indexed for 2025 are open access; funders such as Plan S and the US NIH require it.
Open in the interactive tree →arXiv (1991) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (2002) paved the way; Plan S (2018) made open access binding for many funders. In the US, NIH-funded papers have to be openly available immediately since July 2025. Who pays, via publication fees, remains contested.
As of October 2026
OpenAlex counts about 68% of indexed works from 2025 as open access, up from about 31% in 2015; open works outnumbered closed ones around 2021. At the same time, article processing charges shift costs from readers to authors.
Open steps
- Sustainable open-access business models Low AI leverageResearch what fraction of publishers can sustain fully open journals with institutional or foundation funding instead of author fees or subscriptions.
- Data repository interop Medium AI leverageDevelop and adopt cross-platform standards (metadata, API, licences) so data is discoverable and usable across repositories.
- Author rights and CC-BY licensing Low AI leverageAdvocate for author-retains-copyright models and CC-BY-4.0 licensing globally so authors can share their own work.
Where AI could help
Low AI leverage. The block is funding models, publisher incentives and policy; AI helps with metadata and discovery but not with who pays.
- Detect open-access status and fill missing metadata across repositories and indexes
- Translate and summarize open papers to widen who can use them
- Flag paper-mill and predatory outlets before funds are spent
Prerequisites
- Copyright (Statute of Anne)1710Open licences work by building on copyright law
- Peer Review & Research Bodies1945-1975
- The Internet1969
- Open Licences (GPL, CC)1989Creative Commons licences are the legal basis of most open access
- arXiv Preprint Server1991arXiv (1991) showed that free, immediate circulation of papers works