Could subscriptions for academic journals go the way of pay phones? October 23, 2016 9.59pm EDT Author: Donald A. Barclay https://theconversation.com/could-subscriptions-for-academic-journals-go-the-way-of- pay-phones-63575 The cost of academic journals has increased steeply over the past few decades and continues to climb. Academic libraries, already caught in an economic squeeze, are finding it difficult to acquire new journal subscriptions or, in the worst case, are even canceling existing subscriptions. Either way, faculty and students find they are unable to access journal articles that could further their research and learning. In my 26 years as an academic librarian, I have witnessed the serials crisis transition from the print to the digital world with no relief from ever- escalating subscription costs. Early hopes that a digital publishing environment would lead to lower costs and greater access have failed to bear fruit. In view of such rising costs and the failure to achieve universal access, a conference held in Berlin in December 2015 announced the launch of a radical open access initiative – OA 2020. Analysis of the world, from experts Get our newsletter The OA 2020 initiative calls for the rapid flipping of the financial model of academic journal publishing. It proposes to replace subscriptions for journals with an open access model funded through fees charged to scholarly authors. Could such a model work? Cost of journals