Open Access Business Model and Financial Issues

The paper covers considerations on business model of open access publication for science and research development. The paper is a "state-of-the-art" report about existing open access repositories. The author aims to present that open access movement strongly depends on financial support of research and science development at academic institutions. The development of the information society and the widespread diffusion of information technology gives rise to new opportunities for research and learning. Higher education institutions have been using Internet and other digital technologies to develop and distribute education and research results for several years. However, much of that materials were locked up behind passwords within proprietary systems, unreachable for outsiders. The trend towards sharing software programmes (open source software) and research outcomes (open access publishing) seems to be strong and complemented by the trend towards sharing learning resources. The reasons for individuals and institutions to use, produce and share open education and science results can be divided into basic technological, economic, social and legal drivers. The technological and economic drivers include improved, less costly and more user-friendly information technology infrastructure, hardware and software. Legal drivers are new licensing schemes that facilitate free sharing and reuse of content. Government-supported educational institutions allow for free sharing and reuse of resources, assuming that open sharing speeds up the development of new learning resources, stimulates internal improvement, innovation and helps the institution to keep good records of materials and their internal and external use. There is a need to look for new cost recovery models as institutions experience growing competition. Other arguments cover the altruistic motivation of sharing, personal non-monetary gain, such as publicity, reputation and opportunities to reach the market quickly for the competitive advantage. The increase of volume of research work provided online for free is the natural symptom of science development, because storing the knowledge in closed libraries is fated. Knowledge for its further development must be widely distributed, however the credit should be given to all who contributed. The main thesis of the paper is that open access does not mean equal opportunities for participation in science and research development. The paper consists of three parts. The first part includes analysis of open access movement premises, the next subchapter comprises the discussion on financial problems at open repository institutions and an analysis of financial procedures to support the selected open access repositories. The third part includes the business model of open access repositories' development.