Most of the prestigious publication media are nowadays controlled by a small number of profiteering international publishers. These companies often sell their products at unjustifiably high prices. Following an international trend, some of them have started to offer Open Access publishing as well. In order to compensate for the revenue losses resulting from the free availability of OA publications, however, some of them have begun to calculate special fees – imposed on the authors or their institutions. These fees are ultimately paid by the tax payers.

This business model is contrary to the spirit of the sciences and the humanities. A growing group of scholars are convinced that Fair Open Access publishing is the best way out of this crisis. Since profiteering publishers will not give up their business model just because we say they should, we – the scholars – have to take action ourselves.

If you want to learn more and support the initiative, go to https://foasas.org and sign the 2020 Manifesto for Fair Open Access Publishing in South Asian Studies!