27 March 2024
(From the blog linked below)
"Today marks a significant milestone as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) announces a new Open Access policy, representing a departure from traditional practices. This policy will cease support for individual article publishing fees, known as APCs, and mandate the use of preprints while advocating for their review. This blog looks at the rationale behind this change, exploring the persistent challenges in research publishing and the potential of preprint servers as a solution. It also examines the implications for researchers and research users, highlighting the benefits and drawbacks of this new approach. Finally, it offers recommendations for research funders and researchers to embrace this shift towards equity and innovation in research publishing."
For background and nuance, read the rest of this blog post from the Center for Global Development: https://www.cgdev.org/blog/advancing-equity-and-innovation-research-publishing-time-new-era-open-access-movement
See also this interesting article in Science - no paywall at the time of writing.
You can read the full BMGF policy here: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/policies-and-resources/open-access-policy
**4 April 2024 update: Gates and F1000 to launch a preprints platform