The human right to benefit from advances in science and promotion of openly accessible publications

The article adopts a human rights perspective on the advent and proliferation of open access publishing models and policy goals, focusing primarily on the human right of everyone to benefit from progress in science and technology. While there is still room for developing more tenable and clear norms and delineating rights and obligations of individuals and states respectively in this regard, it is shown that states have an obligation to ensure the realisation of this right, and that there is a developing understanding of this obligation to include the promotion of open access to scientific knowledge. In an effort to further the discussion on open access publication, concrete examples of implementation of the principles of open access are presented and discussed. Nordic Journal of Human Rights. 2013, 31(3), 427-454 http://www.idunn.no/ts/ntmr/2013/0