Why open access and plain language matter for students

Traditional publishing practices are stifling global academic potential. Dependency on institutional subscriptions for access to academic literature and prolific use of ‘science speak’ hinders students’ learning and perpetuates global disparities in education. In this article, I explore how embracing open access and plain language content supports an equitable and inclusive global research ecosystem, and I present ways for everyone, from established authors to students, to embrace open science principles.

The problem with institutional subscriptions

Traditional publishing models often leave students reliant on institutional subscriptions to access published research articles. Subscription fees represent a large expenditure for academic institutions; a 2020 report by Times Higher Education found UK universities paid upwards of £1 billion to just 10 ‘big publishers’ for journal subscriptions between 2010 and 2019.¹

These journal subscription costs leave institutional librarians with a difficult choice: which research to pay for. Universities with greater financial resources can afford subscriptions to a range of journals, allowing their students almost uninhibited access to a broad range of academic literature. In contrast, universities with limited budgets are forced to place their students at an educational disadvantage and – in some cases – curb their academic growth by offering a limited range of literature to support their education.

For wealthy institutions in Europe and North America, 6-digit subscription fees may represent only a small percentage of their annual endowment.² Even so, in 2012, Harvard Library (part of the world’s wealthiest university with an estimated endowment of US$50.7 billion) said that it could no longer afford the rising costs of journal subscriptions – at the time US$3.5 million per year.³

Financial barriers limiting access to published research are even more pronounced for students in low- and middle-income countries,⁴ further exacerbating the global educational divide. As Arash Abizadeh (Angus Professor of Political Science at McGill University) reminds us, “universities funded this research, paid the salaries of the academics who produced it and then had to pay millions … [for their students] to access the end product”. ⁵ Surely subscription fees could be better spent on further research, improved student support or, perhaps, open access publishing.

Opening the gates to knowledge

Open access publishing ensures that research outcomes are free to read and reuse from the point of publication. It directly addresses the challenges and limitations posed by reliance on institutional subscriptions; by removing financial barriers for the reader, open access publishing allows students to access high-quality, innovative academic resources regardless of their geography or institutional affiliation.

In doing so, open access supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4: “ensur[ing] inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all”.⁶ Not only does open access democratize knowledge by making it possible for everyone to pursue academic advancement on equal footing, but it also fosters independent learning, encourages academic curiosity and supports the global research ecosystem.

Reading does not equal understanding

For students and graduates to truly benefit from open access to research communications, they also need to be able to understand them.

Research articles are increasingly filled with complex and technical ‘science speak’ – jargon, abbreviations and acronyms that make research difficult to read and understand.^7–11  As Dalmeet Singh Chawla (Freelance Science Journalist) explains, “overcomplicated language alienate[s] non-scientists … junior researchers and those transitioning to new fields”, disproportionately limiting the ability of students, those for whom English is not their first language and those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) to understand research outcomes.^9,11,12

Having additional learning needs is not a reflection of a person’s intellect or level of expertise; it simply means they require additional support to access their full potential. As someone with dyslexia, I can find reading large bodies of text with technical language overwhelming. Other students and early career researchers with dyslexia have reported similar challenges,¹⁴ demonstrating a widespread unmet need for the plain communication of scientific research outcomes.

Language for one is language for all

The Education Empowerment Foundation puts forward the principle that “good teaching for pupils with SEND is good teaching for all”; managing cognitive load by avoiding jargon benefits everyone, not just those with SEND.¹⁵ Plain language summaries (PLS) are a clear example of this principle being applied to research communication.

PLS are short, abstract-style summaries of research written in plain language,¹⁶ and PLS of publications (PLSPs) are standalone plain language translations of research articles that are published open access.¹⁷ PLS, PLSPs and other enhanced communication formats make complex research understandable to a broad audience, including students, early career researchers, those with SEND, and subject-area experts with limited time.

By embracing these non-traditional formats, we can create an inclusive communication ecosystem in which everyone – regardless of their level of experience, native language or learning needs – can understand and apply research content.

Embracing open science

Open access and PLS should not be seen as ideals but as practical steps towards levelling the academic playing field. When we remove paywalls and make research more understandable, we give everyone – students, graduates and veteran researchers – the tools they need to keep learning and contributing to science.

Everyone has a role to play in making scientific literature easy to access and understand …

Established researchers and authors can do the following.

1. Embrace open access by
   • publishing research in open access journals
   • self-archiving research outputs in open/institutional repositories
   • endorsing the Open Pharma open access position statement.
2. Support inclusive communication by
   • publishing PLS alongside technical abstracts
   • limiting the use of ‘science speak’ in full-text articles
   • challenging colleagues to use plain language.
3. Become an open science champion by
   • educating and mentoring junior researchers about the importance of open research communication
   • sharing of data, code and tools using platforms such as GitHub, Mendeley Data or Open Science Framework
   • voicing experiences and concerns in institutional discussions
   • advocating for and following institutional open science policies
   • engaging with policy-makers and providing feedback on policy consultations
   • promoting open science success stories.

Students, graduates and early career researchers are future leaders, but they can often feel discouraged or disempowered to effect change. However, the Open and Universal Science project encourages early career researchers to lead the adoption of open science principles and help create a more inclusive research landscape.¹⁸

Students, graduates and early career researchers can do the following.

1. Upskill by participating in training programmes (e.g. Skills4EOSC, OpenAIRE, FOSTER and NASA Open Science 101)
2. Advocate for open science principles at your institution by
   • discussing the importance of open science and inclusive communication with your mentors and tutors
   • providing peer support and mentorship for novice researchers and students
   • encouraging academics to use open educational resources, including open access articles and plain language content
   • encouraging institutional policy-makers and course coordinators to consider the needs of those from diverse backgrounds, especially individuals in under-resourced settings and those with additional learning needs.
3. Practice open science by
   • publishing research in open access journals and/or as preprints
   • transforming your journal club into a preprint review club
   • writing your research communications in plain language.

To achieve a future in which everyone has the chance to shape and engage in innovations, we need to embrace equitable, open, inclusive and understandable science. By working together and making our voices heard, we can ensure research, knowledge and education are not privileges but rights shared by all.

References

1. Times Higher Education. 2020. UK Universities ‘paid big publishers £1 billion’ in past decade. Available from: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/uk-universities-paid-big-publishers-ps1billion-past-decade (Accessed 30 September 2025).
2. U.S. News & World Report. 2025. 20 Collages with the biggest endowments. Available from: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/the-short-list-college/articles/universities-with-the-biggest-endowments (Accessed 30 September 2025).
3. The Guardian. 2012. Harvard University says it can’t afford journal publishers’ prices. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/apr/24/harvard-university-journal-publishers-prices (Accessed 30 September 2025).
4. Newton CR. Research and open access from low- and middle-income countries. Dev Med Child Neurol 2020;62:537. https://doi.org/10.1111/dmcn.14513. 
5. The Guardian. 2024. Academic journals are a lucrative scam – and we’re determined to change that. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/16/academic-journal-publishers-universities-price-subscriptions (Accessed 30 September 2025).
6. United Nations. 2025. Goal 4. Available from: https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal4 (Accessed 30 September 2025).
7. Plavén-Sigray P et al. The readability of scientific texts is decreasing over time. eLife 2017;6:e27725. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.27725.
8. The Economist. 2024. Academic writing is getting harder to read – the humanities most of all. Available from: https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2024/12/18/academic-writing-is-getting-harder-to-read-the-humanities-most-of-all (Accessed 26 September 2025).
9. Nature Index. 2020. Science is getting harder to read. Available from: https://www.nature.com/nature-index/news/science-research-papers-getting-harder-to-read-acronyms-jargon (Accessed 30 September 2025).
10. Association for Psychological Science. 2017. Alienating audience: how abbreviations hamper scientific communication. Available from: https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/alienating-the-audience-how-abbreviations-hamper-scientific-communication (Accessed 30 September 2025).
11. Barnett A, Doubleday Z. Meta-research: the growth of acronyms in the scientific literature. eLife 2020;9:e60080. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.60080.
12. Hubbard KE, Dunbar SD. Perceptions of scientific research literature and strategies for reading papers depend on academic career stage. PLoS One 2017;12:e0189753. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0189753.
13. Hubbard KE et al. How do readers at different career stages approach reading a scientific research paper? A case study in the biological sciences. IJSE(B) 2022;12:328–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/21548455.2022.2078010.
14. Mortimore T, Crozier WR. Dyslexia and difficulties with study skills in higher education. Stud High Educ 2006;31: 235–51. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075070600572173.
15. Education Empowerment Foundation. 2024. EEF blog: five-a-day for pupils with SEND – a cluster of adaptive approaches. Available from: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/news/eef-blog-five-a-day-for-pupils-with-send-a-cluster-of-adaptive-approaches (Accessed 30 September 2025).
16. Rosenberg A et al. Open Pharma recommendations for plain language summaries of peer-reviewed medical journal publications. CMRO 2021;37:2015–6. https://doi.org/10.1080/03007995.2021.1971185.
17. Soldavin K et al. Cross-publisher agreement on the defining principles of plain language summaries of publications (PLSPs). CMRO 2025;41 Suppl 1:S28. https://doi.org/10.1080/03007995.2025.2482337 528.
18. Farnham A et al. Early career researchers want Open Science. Genome Biol 2017;18:221. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-017-1351-7.

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The views expressed in this blog post are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of Open Pharma or its Members and Supporters.

Millie Harrison is an Intern within the Patient Engagement team at Oxford PharmaGenesis and recent BSc Biomedical Sciences Graduate of The University of Manchester.