Open access, scholarly infrastructure, equity, INASPPreprint sharing is no longer a peripheral scholarly practice, but an urgent mechanism for repairing a research communication system weakened by delay, prohibitive cost and unequal visibility. Billions of dollars are spent annually on article processing charges, while essential findings may remain trapped in editorial queues for months or even years, delaying access for researchers, communities and policy-makers. The central issue is not the absence of infrastructure, but the lack of institutional and policy resolve. Development-focused funders illustrate this gap: only seven of twenty-one reviewed funders address preprints in their open access policies, and only the Gates Foundation currently mandates preprint sharing. The Gates Foundation’s 2025 Open Access policy is therefore significant because it requires preprints from grantees and ends support for article processing charges, redirecting resources towards more equitable dissemination. Yet mandates alone are insufficient unless research assessment also changes. Career advancement remains strongly tied to prestige journals, a pressure felt acutely in the Global South, where international visibility, funding access and institutional promotion often depend on publication in globally recognised venues. Consequently, funders must recognise preprints in grant applications and reporting, while policy-makers should sustain community-owned infrastructure, metadata systems, indexing, preservation and capacity-building initiatives such as ASAPbio, PREReview, the Africa Reproducibility Network and INASP’s Rising Scholars network. Properly supported, preprints can transform openness from aspiration into enforceable scholarly practice.
Chadwick El-Ali, A. and Irfanullah, H. (2026) ‘Open Science round-up: Making preprints count’, International Science Council, 9 March. Available at: https://council.science/blog/open-science-round-up-making-preprints-count/