Making scientific knowledge free for all

Scientific research publishing is a particularly lucrative industry.

The most recent estimates suggest that it generates around 19 billion U.S. dollars (or 16.67 billion euros) in annual turnover, with margins of around 40%.

These staggering figures largely reflect the fact that the "Big Five" commercial publishers, such as Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, Taylor & Francis and SAGE, are capitalizing on work that is largely funded by public money. ...