Introduction to Open Access
Open Access (OA) is the free, online availability of scholarly work, including
peer-reviewed publications.
Budapest Open Access Initiative, February 14, 2002.
This document clearly defines open access and describes the importance of open access.
Dissemination is an essential, inseparable component of the research process, (SPARC).
This is further elaborated by Willinsky as the Access
Principle.
"Commitment to the value and quality of research carries with it a responsibility to extend the circulation of this work as far as possible, and ideally to all who are interested in it and all who might profit by it."
Studies continue to show that OA significantly increases the impact as measured by citations in other works.
OA options for authors include:
- publishing in OA journals where the whole journal is freely available
- publishing in journals which allow free access to the backfile, e.g. after 6 months or longer
- publishing in journals which allow the author to pay to enable free access
- posting an e-print on their own website
- posting an e-print to a subject-based repository
- posting an e-print to an Institutional Repository (IR) - VC is looking into establishing one.
- protecting author rights to their own material, e.g. using Creative Commons