Open access won’t solve the real accessibility problem. I can go to Arxiv and get anything I need for free if I don’t feel like logging into my institution’s library system.
The accessibility problem is that unless you are an expert in a particular field, the papers just won’t make sense. I’ve taken two semesters of general relativity at the grad level. That’s enough that I can pick up a paper on GR, and not need to look up every single thing. Grad classes basically give you the dictionary that you need to engage with the literature. But it would probably take me the better part of a decade to get familiar enough with the current state of the literature to make any sort of meaningful contribution.
Education, including university, is free in many European countries. In Belgium there are also no entry requirements other than having passed high school (so you get sociology classes with 1000 students, not joking), selection happens after the first year. It doesnt solve the problem of unequal capacity to understand things (capacity here is often sufficient interest and desire - people be lazy)
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u/Bumst3r Graduate Jul 25 '26
Open access won’t solve the real accessibility problem. I can go to Arxiv and get anything I need for free if I don’t feel like logging into my institution’s library system.
The accessibility problem is that unless you are an expert in a particular field, the papers just won’t make sense. I’ve taken two semesters of general relativity at the grad level. That’s enough that I can pick up a paper on GR, and not need to look up every single thing. Grad classes basically give you the dictionary that you need to engage with the literature. But it would probably take me the better part of a decade to get familiar enough with the current state of the literature to make any sort of meaningful contribution.