Meaning and Meandering in the Language of Open Access

Based on initial findings from text analysis of 29 different organizations that are open access stakeholders, we propose that complexity and inconsistency in open access language may reinforce status quo bias and inhibit the advancement of open access publishing by providing uncertainty and perceived disadvantage in the form of “choice." Cost shifting is overly complex, and often re-inscribes inequitable and unsustainable economic models. There are also multiple pathways to language complexity - often through more and less specificity. Publishers tend towards more specificity of guidelines/policies/ procedures. Advocacy organizations are more inclusive of OA models and less precise in their language, leading to difficult interpretation. Libraries adapt language from both Publisher and Advocacy organizations.