Open Access – What is it?

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http://www.openaccessweek.org/video/open-access-explained-by-phd-comics

Open Access is the free, immediate, online availability of research articles combined with the rights to use these articles fully in the digital environment. Open Access ensures that anyone can access and use these results—to turn ideas into industries and breakthroughs into better lives.

SPARC - sparcopen.org

If you haven't heard the term "open access" before, I hope this post will serve as a brief introduction to the concept. Take some time to watch the above video - it does a very good job explaining and illustrating what open access is in relation to research and scientific discovery. 

To summarize the video, open access refers to information, such as research articles and books, that is freely available to the public, and that can be used and built upon with no fear of copyright infringement. The goal of open access is to share information, with the hope that others will build upon that information and further the spread of knowledge and discovery. 

Who Does Open Access Benefit?

Who doesn't benefit from open access?

To be more specific, authors can benefit by having their research become more visible, which means it will most likely be cited more frequently by other researchers. Students working on research projects will not have to worry about running into a paywall before being able to access a full-text article online. Libraries can offer access to more journals and research articles if they are open access, whereas journals that charge a subscription fee may have to get cut from the library due to budgetary issues.  

What Does Open Access Look Like?

Here at ACU, we support open access in many different ways. It can look different at different institutions, but here is what Open Access looks like on our campus:

1. We host our own digital institutional repository - Digital Commons @ ACU is the name of our repository and has been active since 2014. The aim of DigitalCommons @ ACU is to "increase the awareness of the intellectual output of ACU" and to "preserve and provide access to that research" as well as allow faculty to promote their own work. 

2. We have an Open Access Policy on campus - In May of 2017, ACU passed its Open Access Policy which means that faculty members grant ACU permission to make their scholarly articles openly available (achieved through our institutional repository). 

3. Fall 2018 was the beginning of an Alternative Textbook Pilot Program - This semester kicks off the Alternative Textbook Program, which includes five faculty members who have committed to using free or low-cost versions of their textbooks to help save their students money. Many of these alternative textbooks and resources are open-source.

How Can You Support Open Access?

Just a few of the ways you can support open access include:

  • Publishing in an OA Journal 
  • Depositing the appropriate version of your article in an institutional repository (here at the Scholars Lab, we can help you with that!)
  • Raise awareness of the importance of Open Access to advance research
  • Advocate for change by engaging your elected representatives - SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) can help make you aware of what's going on at the national level regarding OA