Why And How The G20 Should Supercharge Research Publishing Reform

The importance of our global system to disseminate research in the current digital era is hard to overstate, yet its undue profitability and systemic failures are frequently ignored. While technological advancements could theoretically enable unfettered access to research knowledge, structural impediments often constrain this. The sector is dominated by an oligopoly and impeded by market failures. In 2022, the five biggest publishers made only 31 percent of their articles Open Access (without paywall) and charges for Open Access publishing could be as high as $11,690. This means publicly-funded research is too often locked behind paywalls, and researchers without the funds to publish are frequently prevented from doing so. These issues are not a niche concern for the academically-minded. Research and innovation underpins almost every imaginable form of social and economic advancement, from effective primary healthcare to macroeconomic development to climate adaptation. Failing global digital systems for sharing new knowledge are an underrecognised drag on progress and resilience. The movement towards Open Access research is part of a broader vision for Open Science, championed by multilateral initiatives, notably UNESCO, and various previous G20 convenings. While this movement has achieved some progress for research users by reducing paywalls, gains have been modest and slow and, more importantly, have largely been achieved by erecting new but equally inequitable pay-to-publish barriers that prevent many researchers from effectively sharing their work. A more transformative and inclusive vision for change is still possible, but the challenges are principally political, rather than technical or economic. A targeted science diplomacy effort could kick-start fresh action to reform our global systems for publishing research and sharing knowledge through leveraging digital innovations and better digital platforms. In the full policy brief we will build on our paper from last year (see CGD website), to establish a vision for reform, detail a theory of change for how science diplomacy can realise such reform and offer specific recommendations for the G20 in 2024.