Open Accessing (OA) Publishing makes the results of expert research from academia immediately, freely, and widely available for public benefit. This contrasts with traditional academic publishing which places cost and permission barriers upon readers – barriers that deny or limit access and reuse, effectively hindering growth of knowledge in a field, development of further research, and innovation.
The concept of “free” in Open Access (OA) relates to how much is allowed for reader access and permission to use and reuse. The terms Gratis and Libre help clarify the concept:
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The “free” that is Gratis OA removes price barriers. Readers can access and read an article without any payment. Permission to use and reuse does not go beyond what is considered legitimate under copyright and fair use. |
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The “free” that is Libre OA removes price and permission barriers. Libre OA allows reading without payment, and readers are granted the broadest permissions for use and reuse through the Creative Commons Attribution-Only license (CC-BY). |
Open Access in its fullest intended sense provides Libre OA for readers. However, in practice, there are also many OA journals that are Gratis paired with use permissions that are less liberal than the CC-BY license.
Faculty and student researchers can support Open Access (OA) through two paths of OA publishing: Gold and Green.
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Gold OA is based on an author publishing their work in an OA journal. The Gold OA path makes the article immediately available Gratis or Libre to readers, depending on the OA journal. Publication costs still exist for the publisher, and a common but not ubiquitous way that OA publishers cover costs is through Article Processing Charges (APCs) that are directed at authors. Tips for Gold OA publishing:
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Green OA is repository-based and starts with an author’s work being accepted or being published in a traditional, non-OA journal. Through Green OA, an author can still make their research more accessible by self-archiving the work, usually to a web site or digital repository. Most traditional journals allow self-archiving but it’s important for an author to check the publisher’s policy about whether, which version, and when the work can be self-archived. Green OA is a cost-free, access-enhancing solution for articles published in traditional journals. Tips for Green OA publishing:
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Understanding Gold and Green Open Access (Video, 3 minutes)
Open Access by
A concise introduction to the basics of open access, describing what it is (and isn't) and showing that it is easy, fast, inexpensive, legal, and beneficial.
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