Openness and the "open ethos" refer to an ideology that prioritizes freedom of information access and use. Those who subscribe to the open ethos might do so for several reasons, and thereby assume a clear position on several converging issues. Some of these main reasons and issues include:
The serials crisis: As of 2023, the results of scholarly research are predominately shared in academic journals that require subscriptions or licenses for readers to access their content. The burden of this price tag is heavy, whether carried by individual readers (an individual yearly subscription to the prominent journal Nature costs $199 in 2023) or library systems (an institutional contract with Elsevier, one of the largest publishers of academic journals, can cost upwards of $2 million). This situation is due in large part to the ability of several academic publishing giants to secure valuable research reports for negligible cost by facilitating (unpaid) peer-review processes through which research is vetted. Authors whose research reports are deemed valuable and rigorous are selected for publication—often a highly competitive process—thus demonstrating the value of their research and their position in the field relative to other scholars, and serving as a crucial performance indicator during tenure review. Due to their position as quality control gatekeepers and copy editors, academic publishers are bequeathed new and innovative research, and in turn, sell access to that valuable information to the higher education institutions whose faculty are producing the valuable information to begin with. To date, the primary method of resistance to the serials crisis from authors is publication in open access (OA) journals, which generally don't involve a paywall to read articles, but do uaually charge authors to publish.
The cost of educational materials like textbooks: Between the 1970s and 2020s, the cost of course materials has risen at three times the rate of inflation. According to the Education Data Initiative's 2022 report on college textbook costs, "The average full-time, in-state undergraduate student at a four-year public university pays $1,226 for books and supplies in one academic year." Predictably, students facing these expenses are forced to make difficult decisions: In a 2020 survey, although 90% of college students expressed concern that not purchasing course materials would negatively impact their grades, 65% said they had chosen not to purchase a textbook that year due to cost, and 63% said they made the same decision in the previous year. Similar to the serials crisis, three publishing companies control over 80% of the U.S. college textbook market. Open educational resources (OERs) and open pedagogy are important interventions into course material costs.
Addressing structural inequities in information access: UNESCO has centered open education in its work to facilitate the free flow of information globally. Their emphasis on open information is due in large part to the benefit of free access to high-quality information and educational materials for students and teachers around the world, particularly for those in impoverished communities. The inherent adaptability of open educational resources means they can be legally modified to fit the cultural context of a given educational setting. As open educational practices are adopted at a greater scale, the size and quality of the global open educational resource collection will improve, ultimately supporting high-quality education at a lower cost, and empowerment through the open proliferation of valuable information, for people around the world.
The general belief that proprietary control of information is unethical when that information is intended for the common good.
Although barriers to the free flow of information must be addressed through multiple means, the position of educational institutions at the center of research and learning systems warrants attention from educators. Open pedagogical practices play a part in introducing learners to the open ethos while addressing barriers to access at different levels.