Access to academic research hasĀ become more expensive each year. It is becoming a trend for schools to cancel subscriptions to academic journals due to insufficient financial means. Despite the fact that these journals are filled with research based articles written by researchers for free, the publishers, many of which are for-profit, sell access to the journalsĀ atĀ inflated rates. An article can only be published in one journal at a time and cannot be posted or shared through other mediums. Because of this rule, the publishers are able to create a monopoly thus removing any preventatives that would control prices.
By contributing to public resources like Wikipedia, we are able to share this research with people who cannot otherwise access these journals. When a contributorĀ addsĀ cited data, we inform the readerĀ of reliable information.Ā This attempts to level the playing field of research. It aids people to do more thorough, extensive research because they are now able to access additional research-based sources.
