Open access

Open access (OA) is the free online availability of digital content. It is best-known and most feasible for peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly journal articles, which scholars willingly publish without expectation of payment.

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One of the major international statements on open access, which includes a definition, background information, and a list of signatories, is Budapest Open Access Initiative of 2001 http://www.soros.org/openaccess/.

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A second major international initiative, dating from 2003, is the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities, which includes a definition which is based on, and builds from, the Budapest initiative http://www.zim.mpg.de/openaccess-berlin/berlindeclaration.html.

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There are two main forms of open access, with many variations. In open access publishing, also known as the "gold" road, journals make their articles openly accessible immediately on publication. One example of an open access publisher is the Public Library of Science. In author self-archiving, also called the "green" road, authors make copies of their articles openly accessible, generally in a subject or institutional repository. A leading proponent of the "green" school is Stevan Harnad.

Related Topics:
Public Library of Science - Stevan Harnad

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Open access is the subject of much discussion amongst academics, librarians, university administrators, and government officials at the moment. There is substantial agreement about the concept of open access, along with much debate and discussion about the economics of funding an open access scholarly communications system. The best place to start to look for information on open access is the Open Access News page and Open Access Overview by Peter Suber.

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