The high price and restrictive publishing policies of scholarly journals—where most academic research is currently published—have led a coalition of student advocacy groups to cry foul.  The Student Statement on the Right to Research, signed by the American Medical Student Association, Student PIRGs, Students for Free Culture, Universities Allied for Essential Medicines, the California Institute of Technology Graduate Student Council and the Trinity University Association of Student Representatives, urges open access to scholarly research.  The statement argues that education is impaired when researchers lack access to each other’s work because of high fees restrictions on the scholars themselves re-distributing their work for free.  It then urges campuses and research funders to follow the lead of schools like Harvard and Stanford that are already allow open access to their scholars’ work. Harvard and Stanford require faculty members to make their scholarly articles available worldwide.

Read the Student Statement on the Right to Research
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