The Primacy of Authors in Achieving Open Access

Abstract

"Of all the groups that want open access to scientific and scholarly research literature, only one is in a position to deliver it: authors. There are three reasons why: 1) authors decide whether to submit their work to OA journals; 2) authors decide whether to deposit their work in OA archives; 3) authors decide whether to transfer copyright.

"If you support OA, then the good news is that authors don't need anyone else's permission or cooperation to provide OA to their own work. The bad news is that research authors are notoriously anarchical and do not act as a bloc. If you oppose OA, then simply switch the good news and the bad."