Open Access in 2025: Staying Honest in a New Era of Science
The Open Access (OA) movement has transformed scientific publishing. Its core goal is to make research freely available to all. By 2025, most new studies had been published OA, making it the standard rather than the exception. While the focus once was on why research should be shared, the conversation has shifted to how, using new technology, policies, and legal frameworks.
The Rise of Open Access
Funding agencies have accelerated OA adoption. Plan S mandated that publicly funded research be immediately accessible, influencing policies in Europe, Asia, and North America. Many journals now charge publication fees, raising concerns about affordability. To address this, libraries increasingly adopted the “Subscribe-to-Open” model, while Diamond OA journals provided fully free access for authors and readers.
Challenges to Scientific Integrity
Despite OA’s success, pressures to publish created vulnerabilities. Paper mills, groups producing fabricated research, often using AI, led to mass retractions. Predatory journals bypassed rigorous peer review, compromising quality. AI misuse blurred the lines between human and machine authorship. Citation manipulation and overburdened reviewers further threatened research reliability.
Tools for Honesty and Efficiency
Automated Screening: AI detects manipulated images and plagiarism before publication.
Advanced Search: Modern search engines summarize, translate, and analyze the impact of research.
Alternative Publishing: Preprints and “nanopublications” allow researchers to share results early and provide more granular data.
Strengthening Trust in Science
New practices promoted transparency and accountability. Open peer review increased transparency. Initiatives like DORA encouraged evaluating research on merit rather than journal prestige. Databases tracked retracted work, helping authors identify reputable journals. Scientists also advocated for research infrastructure controlled by the community rather than corporations.
Final Thoughts
By 2025, Open Access had become a global norm, but challenges remained. Combining technological tools with transparent practices ensures that open science is not only accessible but also reliable and trustworthy, benefiting the entire research ecosystem.
Keywords
Open Access Research Integrity Scientific Publishing AI in Science Preprints Nanopublications Predatory Journals Paper Mills Transparent Peer Review Scholarly Communication
Prof. Negm is a professor of Hydraulics and (Water Resources) in Water and Water structures Engineering Department at Faculty of Engineering of Zagazig University. He worked as a demonstrator in the Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig University in 1986 and continued till he occupied the position of vice-dean for Academic and Student Affairs. He worked for Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST) as a professor of Water Resources since Dec. 2012 until Sept. 2016 and chairperson of Environmental Engineering Dept. at E-JUST since March 2013 until March 2016. He published more than 350 scientific papers in national and international journals and conferences, 25 edited books, and about 50 book chapters. He participated in more than 90 conferences and was a keynote speaker at several national and international conferences. He has awarded the prizes of the best papers three times. His research areas include hydraulic, hydrology, and water resources. Currently, he is very interested in sustainability studies, sustainable development, and green environment in addition to water resources management, Hydraulics and Hydrological studies. Prof. Negm is a member of IAHR, ICWEES and the head of the Egyptian permanent scientific committee for Water Resources (115) for the promotion of associate and professorship positions for the cycle 2019-2022 and was the vice head for the cycle 2016-2019. He is a member of the editorial board of several scientific journals, including IJESD, AJES, JEST, JHGGM, ENRRJ .. etc and a member of the scientific committee and organizing committee of several Int. Conferences, associate editor-in-chief for IWTJ and was a member of the organizing committee of Oceanography 2015 and IWTC2013-IWTC2017. Additionally, he is the secretary-general of the IWTC (www.IWTC.info) from 2013 until the year 2017. He was the head of the ZU committee for assessment of the scientific publications of ZU faculties until Dec. 2018. He published 12 contributed volumes during the years from 2016-2019, in the Handbook of Environmental Chemistry (HEC) series, by Springer Nature. Recently, 10 contributed volumes were published under the Springer Water series in (2020) and the rest is coming soon in Springer water and in other series as well. He was the editor-in-Chief of EIJEST (2016-2020) issued by (Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig University), associate editor of IWTJ (IWTA) and EMJEI (Springer) and Guest editor of AJGS – Springer. Associate editor of EMJEI, Springer. He is the principal investigator of several international projects, including the smart greenhouse and automated irrigation project which is funded from STDF of Egypt and BC of the UK. Recently, he is a member of the editorial board of the HEC series, Springer Nature. He is listed in (a) Marquis Who is Who? for more than 10 years until now, (b) IBC's 2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century, and (c) ABI directory for his achievement in the field of Hydraulics and Water Resources. He was nominated for many other awards from both IBC and ABI.
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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of their affiliated institutions, the Asian Council of Science Editors (ACSE), or the Editor’s Café editorial team.
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Wulfran FENDZI MBASSO
05 January, 2026Open access has clearly shifted the conversation from why we share research to how we protect trust while sharing it. In 2025, the biggest vulnerability is the combination of “publish pressure” with business models that can be exploited—paper mills, predatory outlets, and AI-assisted fabrication are now scaled risks, not edge cases. Two practical moves seem essential: (1) stronger editorial triage using automated checks (plagiarism, image manipulation, abnormal citation patterns) with consistent human oversight; and (2) more transparency by default—clear data/code availability where possible, robust author contribution statements, disclosure of AI assistance, and (when feasible) more open peer review. On the researcher side, incentives must reward quality over volume (aligned with DORA principles), and authors should routinely verify journal legitimacy (e.g., “Think. Check. Submit.”). If openness is treated as shared scholarly infrastructure—governed by the community—we can expand access without weakening reliability.