open access
Open access is hailed as liberating scholarly articles from the chains of commerce while in reality it doubles as a snare targeting researchers’ wallets. Anyone rushes in at the promise of free access, only to be met by exorbitant author fees and turned away. While praising the sharing of knowledge, it ironically consolidates power under the guise of funding. Its true aim may not be the free flow of information but rather the redistribution of wealth and the stagecraft of publicity. Both readers and scholars revel in the illusion, only to find their budgets irreparably eroded.