Barriers in Academia
While OA promotes access, there are still challenges in information justice due to the dominance of publishers, which often charge authors fees (Article Processing Charges, APCs) to make their work open access. These costs can be prohibitive for researchers from less wealthy institutions, creating inequalities in who can afford to publish.

• Alicia J. Kowaltowski, José R. F. Arruda, Paulo A. Nussenzveig, Ariel Mariano Silber. Mar 9, 2023. Guest Post — Article Processing Charges are a Heavy Burden for Middle-Income Countries. https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2023/03/09/guest-post-article-processing-charges-are-a-heavy-burden-for-middle-income-countries/

           "Indeed, the percentage of OA publications was lowest in middle-income economies which are excluded              from Research4Life´s waiver and discount groups: 32% in total, with 27% available at journal websites                and 31% in repositories. These middle-income countries typically have much smaller research budgets                than high-income economies, yet are expected to pay full APCs, which may lead to an avoidance of OA             publishing. While high-income economies publish more often in OA journals relative to middle-income                 nations, 45% of publications in total (31% at journal websites and 36% in repositories), the proportion is               lower than waiver-qualifying Research4Life Group A nations. Overall, this suggests authors from middle-             income countries which aren´t included in Research4Life already publish less in OA journals, suggesting             they may be economically excluded from this option currently, prior to the projected full transition to an                 OA-only publication landscape in 2025."

Intellectual Property and Control
Information justice also raises concerns about how information is controlled and who benefits from it. While OA removes paywalls, there are still concerns about how knowledge is produced and whose voices are amplified. OA has the potential to challenge traditional academic hierarchies, giving a platform to marginalized groups, but systemic biases still exist.

• Anthony J. Olejniczak, Molly J. Wilson; Who’s writing open access (OA) articles? Characteristics of OA authors at Ph.D.-granting institutions in the United States. Quantitative Science Studies 2020; 1 (4): 1429–1450. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00091

"The results show, in general, that the likelihood for a scholar to author an APC OA article increases with male gender, employment at a prestigious institution (AAU member universities), association with a STEM discipline, greater federal research funding, and more advanced career stage (i.e., higher professorial rank). Participation in APC OA publishing appears to be skewed toward scholars with greater access to resources and job security."

Global North vs. Global South
The OA movement is sometimes criticized for being driven by institutions in wealthier nations, which may inadvertently perpetuate power imbalances. Information justice advocates emphasize the need for OA practices to consider the voices and needs of researchers from the Global South, ensuring that they are not just consumers of knowledge but also producers.
 

"Overall, mirror journals had more articles with lead authors from North America, East Asia and the Pacific region than did paywalled articles in their corresponding parent versions. They had fewer lead authors from lower-income areas, in particular those in the global south, such as Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa. Around 80% of articles in mirror journals had first authors from high-income countries, and none had first authors from low-income countries."- 

-Diane Kwon. Open-access publishing fees deter researchers in the global south. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00342-w

• Digital Divide
  While OA promotes free access, the digital divide remains an issue of information justice. Communities without reliable internet access are still excluded from the benefits of OA, highlighting the need for broader infrastructural improvements alongside open access initiatives.