US Funding Cuts Imperil Open Infrastructure Globally

The first month of the Trump administration in the United States saw impacts on research—both ongoing projects and future plans—in the form of grant freezes, court orders, budget cuts, and the elimination of critical roles in several federal agencies and the research institutions and groups they support. This follows a global trend of reductions to research support in France, Argentina, the Netherlands, and many other countries worldwide.

The crisis is expansive. At Invest in Open Infrastructure (IOI), we are focusing on one area of need where action can significantly impact a future for open and sustainable research: the funding and governance of open infrastructures.

In our 2024 State of Open Infrastructure report and the findings from our recent study on open research software infrastructure, we highlighted the need for diversified funding of open infrastructures and the importance of community ownership. In the United States, colleges and universities are major funders, owners, and support structures for research infrastructure. Funding cuts that target higher education imperil tools used by entire communities of researchers by removing a crucial source of monetary and labor support.

At IOI, we have been gathering stories and insights from responses to our Call to Action: Protect Vulnerable Infrastructure and Research Independence post and through the stories shared by signers of our Statement of Support for a Global Research Ecosystem. These responses build on what we learned from the State of Open Infrastructure Report and research such as the Reasonable Costs for Public Access project. The common thread in all of this engagement and research is that the impacts of funding cuts extend far beyond their immediate targets. It’s not even a matter of ripple effects, a term that’s seen much use in reporting during this time. We see a chain reaction that could indelibly alter the education and research landscape.

Our funding research on open infrastructures shows that in the past ten years, four US federal funders have directly supported open infrastructures with about $30 million in direct funding and about $130 million in indirect funding. This is not an insignificant amount, but it’s just a small part of the picture. Open infrastructure relies on the apparatus of higher education for support in many ways, and with those indirect support funds slashed by recent moves by the US administration, colleges and universities are looking for ways to bridge the gap.

What we hear from our community is troubling: the indirect costs associated with funding cuts are not just numbers on a spreadsheet but realities that resonate through universities and their affiliated infrastructures. It’s crucial to understand that when universities face budget reductions, the inevitable result is increased costs across adjacent sectors. Tuition and housing costs go up as student aid is reduced. The price of textbooks and materials increases because universities no longer subsidize bookstores, printing costs, or programs for open educational resources. Businesses in university districts are impacted as the local workforce is reduced and the universities no longer host events. This impact extends to digital products as institutions seek cost savings in enterprise software or support for open infrastructure tools and push costs to individual users. As organizations that rely on these institutions are threatened, we are compelled to look at the chain reaction that will result from decisions happening now.

Some likely targets for reduction in costs include a reduction in personnel, as we’ve seen happening within the US federal government. Positions that are not essential to the main functions of a university and its students will be the first targets, and this may include those staff who create and maintain infrastructure tools. Layoffs at universities and research institutions can be devastating to those who remain. With fewer staff available, those remaining are stretched thin, leaving little energy and time for professional development, which many people use to work on volunteer projects vital to open infrastructures and other organizations in this sector.

Additionally, we see mounting pressure for institutions to cut memberships and donations to services that are considered nonessential on first sight, further jeopardizing crucial resources. Membership models have been a key funding mechanism for the open infrastructure community; what will happen when those memberships are withdrawn? A real challenge lies in our lack of comprehensive data regarding institutional contributions to open infrastructures. This gap in visibility can undermine our efforts to understand and communicate the full scope of the crisis.

So what is there to do? We take inspiration from community members who share their concerns with us and those who are taking bold steps to visibly support open infrastructures. At IOI, we want to hear from you. Here are our three specific calls to action:

1. Let’s kickstart a conversation around science philanthropy and the vital need for increased infrastructure investment during these unpredictable times. The instinct may be to adopt a cautious, academic approach, but now is not the time for reticence. Are you looking to make additional investments that can impact the open infrastructure community? Whether you are a funder or a potential adopter of open infrastructure, we must focus on increasing spending where it matters most.
   
2. We encourage everyone to reflect on their reliance on and investment in open infrastructure. How do we know where it matters most? That is where you come in: what keystone infrastructures do you depend on in your work? What five open infrastructures could you not work without? What are the elements of open science that you feel require immediate protection and support? How are you making your organization’s efforts toward supporting open infrastructures public and visible?
   
3. We need to identify shared areas of immediate, urgent concern for open infrastructure. For those bracing for funding cuts, we want to hear from you. What aspects of your work are you most concerned about? What do you need support with? When funders come through with support, they will want to know how to make a difference, so let’s pinpoint areas for collective action.

As we confront these challenges together, the voice of every member of this community—librarians, researchers, administrators, funders, and advocates—is invaluable. At IOI, we’re collecting stories and concerns about open infrastructure by following up with signatories of our Statement of Support for a Global Research Ecosystem, and we want to hear from readers of this article too. Send us an email at [email protected] and let us know your thoughts. We also want to amplify the call by Demmy Verbeke and Curtis Brundy in Katina last year to consider open investing in library collections and to visibly demonstrate advocacy in order to spur action in the community.

In this moment, we not only need to act collectively to shape the future, but to act visibly so that we know we are not alone in this struggle. The future of our academic and research communities depends on our ability to come together now.