Following the publication of their research on the growth of research being published in open access journals over the last decade from Mikael Laakso  (@mikaellaasko) and Bo-Christer Björk (@bjorkbobi), much conversation throughout OA week 2012 would suggest that the “academic publishing game has changed irrevocably” (to quote Stephen Curry (@Stephen_Curry) in his coverage of the article).

This article, along with recent developments prior to and during OA week, were the backdrop for our discussion. Selected highlights from the discussion follow below introductions from some of the participants.

Q1 – What are the main factors that have led to the steady growth of OA publishing?

This figure from Laakso & Björk charts the growth in volume of articles in full immediate open access journals from 2000 - 2011.

There was plenty of references to growing support of the open access movement since the 2002 Budapest declaration (which can be found here), as well as developments in technology, and particularly institutional and government policies.

In the UK, a government report on open access to the results of publicly funded research led to an announcement on open access from body that disseminates government research funds (RCUK), requiring published research to be open access.

Policies and initiatives have also been announced in the USA, EU, Denmark and more recently Ireland.