What is Open Access?
Open Access research is digital, free to access, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Green Open Access: authors self-archive their research (pre-print or post-print) in a repository.
Gold Open Access: authors publish work in an open access journal.
Hybrid Open Access: authors pay publishers to make a single article open access in a closed/subscription journal.Gratis vs. Libre Open Access
| Gratis OA = information that is free of cost, but may have some copyright and licensing restrictions |
| Libre OA = information that is free of cost AND free of some or most copyright and licensing restrictions |
For a more detailed introduction to open access, read Peter Suber's Open Access Overview.
Why Open Access?
Open Access' Impact
The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) works to enable the open sharing of research outputs and educational materials in order to democratize access to knowledge, accelerate discovery, and increase the return on our investment in research and education.
SPARC Impact Stories highlights open access' positive global impact.