Pretentious writing and paywalls

Academic literature should be more accessible

JACKIE MARQUEZ /OPINION EDITOR / THE USD VISTA

When you’re researching for an assignment, the perfect source can be elusive. It’s difficult enough to find a study or article that supports your hypothesis, but paywalls and confusing writing can pose roadblocks in your research process. 

The cost of accessing academic literature is too high, and the literature itself is often difficult to read due to technical jargon. As such, academic literature is inaccessible. This must change because inaccessibility separates the public from academics and experts. These texts should be more easily available to the general public.

Research papers, essays and other scholarly publications are crucial to higher education. These academic works are composed by professors and researchers, and their contents are taught to students as part of their curriculum. Students and professors can often access these texts through university libraries, however, it is difficult to access them outside of the classroom. Published in scholarly journals, the contents of these papers are guarded by high membership fees. They are also obscured by unclear or unnecessarily complicated writing.  Because  of this, academic literature is only accessible to those already involved   in  the world of academia. 

The first factor that makes academic writing difficult to interact with is its cost. Most of the journals in which these texts are published operate on a subscription or membership basis. This requires readers to pay an annual fee.  A membership with Science, a peer reviewed academic journal created by the American Association for the Advancement of Science,  starts at $79 annually. A subscription to Nature, another peer reviewed academic journal, costs $199 a year, or $29.99 a month. Business journals are also expensive; a subscription to The Wall Street Journal is $9.25 a week, adding up to $507 a year, though there is a student discount that offers a subscription  for  $13 a year. 

It’s important to note that many  journals offer student discounts. For example, Science offers a student subscription for $25 a year.  But, regardless of discounts, some journals are  still out of the question for students. Journal subscriptions aren’t always necessities for college students. When doing an assignment, you may only need one or two articles from a journal. This doesn’t justify  paying for an annual  subscription, even if the cost is low.         

The cost of accessing academic literature isn’t just a problem for students.  According to a study conducted by the University of Missouri, the current cost of journal subscriptions are rising at a higher rate than inflation. While many libraries offer access to these journals free of charge, rising costs can surpass library budgets. This has led some libraries to cancel subscriptions. Individuals outside of academia rely on public libraries for access to academic texts, so rising costs harm both students and the public. 

Not only is academic literature expensive, but it’s also difficult to read. These texts are chock-full of jargon. Articles can also be excessively long, making it difficult for readers to keep track of the author’s ideas. 

Steven Pinker, a professor of psychology at Harvard University, highlights other problems with academic writing in an article titled “Why Academics Stink at Writing.” He explains that academics suffer from “the curse of knowledge.” Scholars become so educated in their field that their subject matter seems like common sense. Because their reasoning and terms may seem obvious to them, they fail to elaborate or provide context for their audience. He also notes that academics add “fluff” into their writing, to cushion their ideas rather than state them outright. 

The tendency to overcomplicate writing isn’t unique to PhD holders — undergraduate students do the same thing. According to an ironically titled study called “Consequences of erudite vernacular utilized irrespective of necessity: problems with using long words needlessly,” undergrad students intentionally use big words to look smart. This, however, has the opposite effect. The same study found that being concise  is  actually more effective at making an author look smart. The unnecessary addition of flowery language and the lack of explanations in academic writing makes academic reading unnecessarily complex. 

Some scholars argue that academic writing is only inaccessible when you’re not part of a text’s intended audience. They assert that the problem isn’t the style that articles are written in, rather it’s the audience’s lack of prior knowledge and familiarity with the academic writing style. Most research papers are meant to be read by academics within the field, especially if the content of the paper covers a very niche topic. Deborah Bosley, a former University of North Carolina English professor and clear writing advocate, explains this in an article for The Atlantic. 

“Academics, in general, don’t think about the public; they don’t think about the average person, and they don’t even think about their students when they write. Their intended audience is always their peers,” Bosley wrote. 

It may be easier for experts to write  in  the  traditional academic style when that’s what they’re accustomed to, but when they do so, they create a disconnect between themselves and their audience. The goal of research isn’t to have knowledge just for knowledge’s sake. Rather, it’s to gain knowledge that will benefit the general public. When researchers exclusively direct their knowledge toward other experts, they leave out the very people  their  work is supposed to help. This is especially harmful because if everyday people can’t afford or understand information from academic  sources, they may turn to sources that are less credible.

Social media has become a source of information for some people because it’s free to access and easy to understand. However, social media posts don’t undergo the same careful peer review that academic literature does. This can enable the spread of misinformation. While information from experts can be difficult to access, misinformation is often one click away. 

Academic literature is difficult to interact with, but it doesn’t need to be. Open access journals  provide a solution to the costliness of for-profit journals. Open access publications allow readers to access research for free; some charge researchers to cover the costs of publication, while others generate revenue from ads and sponsors. There is  also   legislation,   such as the National Institutes of Health’s Public Access Policy, that requires researchers who receive public funding to make publications available free of charge after a certain amount of time. 

Scholars can also make  their   writing  easier to  understand   by  writing   in a  more   casual   style. They   can also expand their texts with quotes, diagrams, and explanations of ambiguous terms. Students can also help change the culture around academic writing by practicing clear writing in their own assignments, and professors can   do   so by grading   on   the   quality  of ideas rather  than   style   of   writing. 

Yes, these changes require readers  and writers  to   go against academic norms, but  it  can  be done. While academic ideas  can be complex, the writing that conveys  them  doesn’t need to be.