A Paradigm Shift in Scientific Scholarly Communication: Toward Public Access and Use of Research

Background: Open access movements have gained significance and evolved to bridge the divide between traditional models of publishing and open access publishing to embrace a paradigm shift in scientific publication. Objective: This paper examines the 2008 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy mandating open access for research articles funded by the NIH. Methods: Examining key tenants of the policy, the analytic method used in this study is Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional model for a critical discourse analysis (CDA). The CDA maps the discourse practice and social practice surrounding the development of the policy. Results: Findings illustrate the tensions between those groups advocating open access and commercial publishers. Discusses the language use by all parties, e.g. around copyright and the meanings and presentation of open access, and explains how policy developed. Conclusions: Presented with opportunities and challenges, the library community plays a key role in the advocacy for open access, “public good”, and copyright. With support from critical strata of the academy and Congress, the library community is a catalyst in the debate over open access.