THE RIGHT TO READ IS THE RIGHT TO MINE

To celebrate the 10th International Open Access Week, Cambridge University has placed a digitised version of Stephen Hawking’s 1966 PhD thesis, “Properties of expanding universes” online for anyone to read and download. Hawking is quoted as saying: “Anyone, anywhere in the world should have free, unhindered access to not just my research, but to the research of every great and enquiring mind across the spectrum of human understanding.” Hawking’s PhD was already the most-requested item from Cambridge University’s open access repository, with the catalogue record alone attracting hundreds of views per month.

Open access’s battle to liberate academic texts has been going on for around two decades. Cambridge University’s limited – though welcome – moves in this respect show how much work remains to be done. Many of the challenges arise from the fact that the key ways of sharing academic knowledge were devised in the analogue era.

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