Will Asia Fully Respond to the Global Transition to Open Access?

A key feature of Open Science (OS) is the transparent and collaborative dissemination of research and data. At the same time, in Open Access (OA), it is the ease with which published content can be accessed. In light of the geographical disparity in the implementation of OA, the 8th Annual Meeting of the Asian Council of Science Editors (ACSE) featured a panel discussion on the topic, ‘Will Asia Fully Respond to the Global Transition to Open Access?’. Discussions included OS taxonomy, significance, key players and barriers to OA and OS in Asia. During the panel discussion, the panelists, experts and the audience agreed that OA and OS would benefit the Asian research community by expanding the reach of their findings and thus, improving visibility. However, existing concerns about OA in the Asian continent must be addressed by the research community, governments and editorial organizations. Furthermore, OA is adopted differently by countries within Asia. Therefore, Asia should develop a strategy to overcome the current divide between the Global North (developed countries) and the Global South (least-developed and developing countries). By working together and taking advantage of their counterparts' existing OA infrastructure, Asian countries can create their own roadmap to transformation.