The Open Access Law Book in Aotearoa New Zealand: Radicalising the Funding of Future Publishing

Abstract

The budgets of university libraries in New Zealand are being squeezed by the costs of subscriptions to works necessary for teaching. This article advocates for a different approach to funding such works. Drawing upon experience of developing an open access textbook on the criminal process it is argued that open access publishing is the best way to make the most of the funding that is available for legal research and scholarship. The funding model for academic publishing may need to be recalibrated, but perhaps not radically.