Open is multiple, not defined. Attempts to focus the concept could exclude other economic models.

Taking a humanistic, long view of the openness of scholarly material, Tim McCormick argues that the concept of ‘open’ is difficult to approach because it is essentially “that which can’t be defined”. So attempts to legislate for certain versions of open through particular advocacy movements have limited its meaning. Rather, ‘open’ is the capacity to resist a single or final definition.