Making animal welfare science freely available through open access publishing increases its reach and impact, allowing practitioners, policymakers and the public to benefit from research findings.
The knowledge-to-practice gap in animal welfare can be substantially reduced when research is freely accessible to farmers, vets, NGOs and policymakers worldwide. Research on effective pain management in livestock, fish welfare indicators, or enrichment for zoo animals has no welfare benefit if it remains inaccessible to practitioners. Open access publishing is therefore directly linked to real-world welfare improvement.