While open-access science has made research available worldwide, some scholars worry that misinformation, fraud and politicization have become rampant in a system that rewards speed and sparkle. While open access has democratized science, to good effect -- making research available to sick patients interested in learning more about their condition or to scientists working in the Global South -- it also has had “second-order effects” that are more concerning, he said. “It’s now easier for scientific literature to be quoted and used in all sorts of political discourse,” Schonfeld said in an interview. “When the methods of scholarly publishing that we use today were first formed, there was no sense that there was going to be a kind of politicized discourse looking for opportunities to misinform the public and intentionally cause disunity.”
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/11/08/open-access-science-misinformation-era
