Mapping the controversy on article processing charges (APC) to enable open access

Abstract

The development of the Open Access model has changed the form of scientific communication. However, making scientific literature free of barriers to readers requires solutions to make publication economically feasible and perennial in the eyes of its community. Charging article processing fees (APC) is a means to provide financial sustainability to these publications but it raises opposing and favorable positions. This work investigates different arguments on the subject and their interrelations, using the cartography of controversies, a method derived from the Actor-Network Theory elaborated by Latour, Callon, Law and collaborators. The mapping of such a controversy allowed identifying differences in positioning between disciplinary fields, geopolitical asymmetries, and historical transformations, in addition to repercussions on the current information regime. Among the main findings, stand out the contrasting views between Global North and South countries about the commercial/non-commercial character of the scientific publication system and the asymmetries, both disciplinary and geographic, in the distribution of resources for the financing of scientific communication.