From a [sobering new post on SciDev.Net](https://www.scidev.net/global/features/open-access-excludes-developing-world-scientists/):
> [F]or many researchers in the developing world, who do not have a grant or an institution to cover the fees, the open access system can lock them out of top tier academic journals.
> Bonaventure Tetanye Ekoe, honorary dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Yaoundé I in Cameroon, says the open access model means African researchers are penalised twice.
> “The first time they are penalised because there is no money to fund their research. A second time because even when they manage to do their research, they are asked to pay to publish a paper. “So that means that, since they don’t publish, they will perish,” he tells SciDev.Net.
> The cost of submitting a paper can be many times a researcher’s salary. For example, the monthly salary of a PhD assistant researcher in Cameroon is estimated at just over US$350.
It's telling that the [piece](https://www.scidev.net/global/features/open-access-excludes-developing-world-scientists/) equates OA with APC/read-and-publish OA, given the recent read-and-publish momentum. The ramshackle waiver system also comes in for some [deserved bashing](https://www.scidev.net/global/features/open-access-excludes-developing-world-scientists/).
It's a reminder that the APC/read-and-publish future we're hurtling towards is likely to [worsen global inequalities in scholarly communication](https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2020/02/21/read-and-publish-open-access-deals-are-heightening-global-inequalities-in-access-to-publication/).