Student initiative, Right to Research Coalition, Aims To Make Research Information Affordable

In an effort to increase access and affordability of published research, alumnus Nick Shockey created the Right to Research Coalition.  Currently, academics do research with funding from organizations or universities. The research then undergoes peer review, which is also done by academics. Publishers take this research, edit and format it and sell it back to institutions for as much as $20,000 per year. In light of high expenses,  institutions such as Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are among many canceling subscriptions.

According to many market researchers, articles have been commercialized in a way it was not intended to be. Similarly, each article is a monopoly, so publishers can control demand and then inflate the price.  However, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) has been working to make this information accessible to the general public...