Why open access isn't enough in itself

By Ellen Collins. Paywalls may not be the only barrier we need to overcome if the public is to benefit from academic research, says Ellen Collins. I hit a career high when my research on university library data recently appeared in the Guardian education pages. However, my initial surge of excitement was tempered slightly when I saw the journalist hadn't provided references to my actual study and significantly when I realised the single finding she'd quoted was – to put it charitably – not very reliable. My feelings on browsing the comments section can't really be articulated in a family news outlet, but it was clear that many people had picked up an incomplete understanding of how and why the research was being done. But the worst part of the experience was this: I had blogged the whole project – background, rationale, false starts, findings, corrections – openly online. Aren't these misunderstandings exactly the kind of problem that openness is supposed to prevent? More...