The International Science Council (ISC) and ALLEA (All European Academies) last month drew the attention of the scientific community to the inadequacies of open access to research papers as currently implemented by publishers (see go.nature.com/3otps2d and go.nature.com/3cfp6bq). Open access to the record of science is essential for an equitable and inclusive global scientific enterprise and to the scientific self-correction that is crucial for rigour and public trust. The ISC statement sets out eight fundamental principles of publishing that need to be upheld in serving the needs of science, including mandating access to all evidential data and removing restrictive copyright.
Publishing, making ideas and data public on increasingly diverse and sophisticated platforms, accompanied by critical peer evaluation, is central to how science works. Its governance should therefore be accountable to the science community — the principal producer, validator and consumer of scientific publications.
The science community is raising its voice; funders, governments, universities and research institutions must now step up to reform open access to the scientific record according to the framework outlined in the ISC and ALLEA statements.
