What is Open Access?
Open Access (OA) makes research accessible immediately upon publication with no restrictions. Anyone with internet access can find, read, mine, cite, and share OA articles at no cost to them. Choosing to publish under an OA license advances information equity by making your research more visible, useful, and more transparent.
Why Open Access Matters
Most publishers own the rights to the articles in their journals. Anyone who wants to read the articles pays a fee for access. Institutions and libraries help provide access to paywalled research through costly negotiations. Even then, no part of the article can be reused by researchers, students, or taxpayers without permission from the publisher, often at the cost of an additional fee.
Open Access Guide
Created by SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) and PLOS (Public LIbrary of Science), the HowOpenIsIt? Open Access Guide standardizes OA terminology
Excerpts from the PLOS Public Library of Science.
