Why does Open Access matter?
When we talk about Open Access, it is in the context of ensuring that information in all formats is made freely accessible and available to the open public.
This context includes Open Access publishing within the domains of Scholarly Communication and Digital Scholarship.
One of the most important advantages of open access is that it increases the visibility and reuse of academic research results. There is also criticism, and the aspect of quality deserves extra effort. The principles of open access are set out in the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003). This declaration has been signed by many international organisations for academic research, including all Dutch universities and research organisations.
Source: Dutch National
Frequently Asked Questions
EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries) is a not-for-profit organization that works with libraries to enable access to knowledge in developing and transition economy countries in Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America.
In a highly networked digital world our activities help people to access and use information for education, learning, research and sustainable community development.
Your Open Access questions - answered!
Open access allows others to read your research without barriers. It also gives other researchers greater opportunity to build upon your work.
Get your open access questions answered with this useful guide, and then choose open access with Taylor & Francis.
Benefits of Open Access
Open access is great for readers because it gives them immediate access to the latest research. There are also many advantages to you, the author. Read more about the benefits of open access.
Publishing in Open Access:
avoids duplication of research effort, and the resulting financial and time waste
enhances the transparency of scientific research funding and fosters wider understanding of outstanding scientific questions
increases the accountability of public institutions
facilitates the search of information through metadata
helps people to better appreciate scientists and their work
closes gaps in the access to knowledge
enables the building of knowledge databases and re-using published results
The promotion of scientific knowledge and their wide dissemination has clear benefits not only for researchers but also for society as a whole. It serves the interests of many groups, such as:
Authors: it gives them a worldwide audience and increases the visibility and impact of their work;
Universities: it increases the visibility of their faculties and research, reduces their expenses for journals, and advances their mission to share knowledge;
Teachers and students: it puts rich and poor on an equal footing by eliminating the need for payments or permissions to reproduce and distribute content;
Libraries: with Open Access, librarians can help users find the information they need, regardless of the budget-enforced limits on the library's own collection;
Citizens: it informs on decisions that are important to everyone. It gives them access to research documents, most of which is unavailable in public libraries and for which they have paid through their taxes;
Readers: it gives them barrier-free access to the literature they need;
Journals: it makes their articles more visible, discoverable, retrievable, and useful. This visibility enables to effectively attract submissions, subscriptions and advertising;
Donors: it increases the return on their investment in research, making the results more widely available. It also provides a fundamental fairness to taxpayers or public access to the results of publicly-funded research;
Governments: it also promotes democracy by sharing non-classified government information as widely as possible.