Open Access is the free and immediate access of scholarly research information to everyone, through the Internet, giving the right to use and reuse those research results to anyone as needed.
Open Access Week is a worldwide event celebrated during the week of October 18 to the 24, to promote the unfettered “open access” of information for the advancement of scholarship and research, and for the benefit of academia, medicine, science, industry and the population at large.
This is the 4th year of the event which provides the academic and research community with the opportunity to keep current on open access initiatives and advancements made by open access policies around the world. Also, it gives academics and researchers the chance to share ideas and projects that demonstrate to the scientific community the importance and the benefits of open access to information.
Visit the Open Access Week site for information on planned activities and to connect with the worldwide Open Access Week community. You can also read a timeline of the last 10 years of Open Access Journals.
AND … WHAT IS OPEN ACCESS?
It’s … Research Literature!
- Digital and online
- Compatible with peer reviewed literature
- Freely available to readers through the Internet
It’s … Scholarly Journals!
- Royalty-Free
- Mostly peered reviewed articles
- Contents freely available to the world to read, download, distribute, print, and link to the full texts of open access journals
It's ... Budget Friendly!
- Production and Publishing Costs are:
- Paid by subsidies from hosting universities or professional societies
- Paid by authors or authors' sponsors (employer, funding agency)
- Less expensive to produce than conventionally published literature
- Less expensive than online-only literature
It’s … Archives and Repositories!
- Includes preprints and postprints of journal articles
- Includes theses, course materials, institutional records, audio and video files, digitized collections, and more
- Ensures long term preservation
It’s … Barriers Removed!
- Price barriers (subscription, licensing fees, pay-per-view fees)
- Permission barriers (read more about licensing from the Creative Commons)
It’s … a Global Movement!
- Advocates for the unrestricted sharing of research results for everyone
- Gaining ever more momentum around the world
- Physicians, Scientists, Nurses, Students, Teachers, Librarians, Patients around the world support Open Access