A professor emeritus from the London School of Economics (LSE) has criticized a deal struck between publishers and universities in the UK to publish articles in open access as discriminatory against retired researchers. Patrick Dunleavy, a public policy expert, is 72 years old. For 45 years, he worked as a researcher at LSE and as an executive at the institution’s publishing company, before retiring in November last year. He decided, however, to continue with certain academic activities. A few months ago, he submitted an article for publication in the journal Political Quarterly, but was told that he would have to pay a publication charge of £2,300 out of his own pocket because he is no longer part of the LSE faculty. He is therefore not covered by the agreement under which universities fund open-access publication of articles written by their staff. The agreement was signed by the Joint Information Systems Committee, an organization linked to universities in the UK and publishers such as Wiley, which publishes Political Quarterly.
Dunleavy told Times Higher Education that his work is important. It is still read by academics and policymakers and LSE included it in its last submission to the Research Excellence Framework, the UK’s research evaluation system. According to Dunleavy, emeritus researchers can still contribute to academia and often want to continue publishing. He therefore considers it unfair that they are treated differently to their younger colleagues.
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