Yes - and the papers are written by the academics, typically funded by the US government - so we’ve already paid for it.
Here is an indepth overview of a big part of the issue:
Students are losing already limited access to core academic research – research essential to a complete education. As a student, it’s no secret that academic journals are crucial to our research, our papers, and our understanding of both fine details and the larger, overall picture of everything we study. Yet, students often run into access barriers while to trying to do research, forcing us to settle for what we can get access to, rather than what we need most.
Outside the classroom, limited access to research has a tremendous impact on people’s lives. When doctors are denied access to medical research, patient outcomes suffer - especially in developing countries where medical professionals have even fewer resources to commit to research access. Even in business, small companies in cutting-edge fields lose opportunities to innovate when they don’t have access to the most up-to-date research upon which to build.
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the way academic research is currently shared is that, even though you – through your taxes and tuition – underwrite a vast portion of research, you’re denied access to the results unless you also pay often very expensive subscription fees.
So, Why Is Access Limited?
Over the past two decades, the price of subscriptions to academic journals has increased tremendously, to the point where they’re often out of reach for students, even at the most well funded institutions. Many journals now cost in excess of $10,000 per year, with a few peaking at over $25,000 per year1, and your library can’t afford access to them all. For example, MIT has had to increase its journal budget by over 360% over 20 years to keep up with journal price increases, and the University of California-Berkeley has increased their journal expenditures by 1,300% over roughly the same period.2
Many schools don’t have the financial resources to keep up, so they’re forced to make choices – choices that mean students lose access to core disciplinary journals and must base their education on what’s available rather than what they need. In 2010 alone, the University of Georgia cancelled subscriptions to nearly 600 journals.3 Unfortunately this seems to be the trend among colleges and universities rather than the exception.4
The problem is much worse in the developing world where institutions can only afford a small fraction of the access they need, severely limiting both their students and their researchers. For example, a prominent researcher in India has said:
“Given such unequal access, Indian scientists inevitably struggle to perform world class science. The fact is that equitable access to current scientific information is essential”