Open Access

Open access (OA) is when information is freely available online for people to read, use, copy, and distribute with limited copyright and licensing restrictions. Traditionally, open access is associated with making research freely available to read and reuse, but the term can be used to describe other open access resources like videos, music, data, and software.

Sometimes you will see the terms open access and free used interchangeably because they are similar concepts and overlap, but they are different. Open access content is no-cost and has few reuse restrictions, so it can usually be reused and shared with attribution. Free content can be accessed or used for free, but usually cannot be reused, modified, or redistributed.

Open Access

Open access is when content is free to access, and the public is able to use, adapt, and share the content with few restrictions. 

Examples of open content that is often distributed under a Creative Commons license:

• Open access books and book chapters
• Open access journal articles
• Open data
• Works that are in the public domain

Free Access

Free access is when content is available without cost, but copyright and licensing restrictions often limit the ability to reuse and share content.

Examples of free content that might not be fully open access because the content cannot be reused, modified, or shared:

• Free websites
• Videos on YouTube that do not have a Creative Commons license
• Free article abstracts

Closed Access

Closed access is when access to content is restricted, usually requiring a payment or paid subscription for access.

Examples of closed-access content:

• News articles that have a paywall
• Subscription-based scholarly journals
• eBooks that require a purchase to view the book

"Diagram illustrating the benefits of open access" by Danny Kingsley and Sarah Brown via Australiasian Open Access Strategy Group is licensed under CC BY 3.0

Visibility

• Accessible - Open access content is available to anyone, not just subscribers.
• Viewable - When content is easier to access, it can lead to more views, downloads, and citations.

Dissemination

• Collaboration - Open access allows content to be shared globally, which helps global collaborative research.
• Reuse - When research is shared openly and freely, more people can access, reuse, and build upon it.

Impact

• Cultivation - With Creative Common licenses, it is easier for others to build on existing research while creating new research.
• Citations - Research might get cited more often because open access works are easily accessible.
• Value - Researchers frequently carry out their work through public grant funding. Therefore, when research is published open access, the public can access the content they contributed to funding. 
• Cooperation - Open access content can be accessed and used by anyone, which can aid the work of journalists, policymakers, teachers, healthcare workers, professors, researchers, artists, and more.

Authors will give away copyright by publishing open access - FALSE!

Publishing open access does not require authors to give away copyright. Authors or publishers can retain copyright while publishing open access using a Creative Commons Attribution License to publish articles. Creative Commons Attribution Licenses allow authors or publishers to retain copyright while allowing others to distribute, adapt, and build upon the original work.

Learn more about Creative Common Licenses:

• About Creative Common Licenses
• Creative Commons Frequently Asked Questions

Articles will not have an impact factor by publishing open access - FALSE!

Open access journals are like other journals in that the impact factor varies by journal. New journals (two years or younger) will not have an impact factor, but all other journals, open or not, will have an impact factor.

Learn more about impact factor:

• The Clarivate Analytics Impact Factor
• The Journal Impact Factor: A brief history, critique, and discussion of adverse effects

Open access journals are not prestigious or reputable - FALSE!

Open access journals are just like subscription journals in that the quality of open access journals varies widely by journal.

Learn more about journal evaluation:

• Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing
• Addressing Faculty Publishing Concerns with Open Access Journal Quality Indicators

Sources for Open Access News:

Recent Open Access News at UD:

• Expanding the Reach of Research with Open Access - Open access, the practice of making articles, books and other original research freely and digitally accessible for anyone to read and reuse, has been a key focus in the Library, Museums and Press’ commitment to expand access to cutting-edge research from the UD community and beyond.
• UD Library, Museums and Press Signs Open Access Agreement, Expanding Reach of UD Research - The University of Delaware is now participating in the NorthEast Research Libraries Consortium (NERL) agreement with Cambridge University Press to support Open Access publishing. This means if you are affiliated with the University of Delaware (or another participating institution), you can publish your article Open Access, at no cost to you, in Cambridge University Press gold and hybrid journals, at least through 2024. Learn more.