Open access

Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which nominally <a href="/facts/Copyright/7GHEWEx9">copyrightable</a> publications are delivered to readers free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or <a href="/facts/Gratis_versus_libre/YDd7Hjzm">libre</a> open access, barriers to copying or reuse are also reduced or removed by applying an <a href="/facts/Open_license/KdQKHjLl">open license</a> for copyright, which regulates post-publication uses of the work.
The main focus of the open access movement has been on "<a href="/facts/Peer_review/ly6yEgcW">peer reviewed</a> research literature", and more specifically on <a href="/facts/Academic_journal/SBI7Ue0q">academic journals</a>. This is because:

<ul><li>such publications <a href="/facts/Academic_journal_publishing_reform/o0oImbyL">have been</a> a subject of <a href="/facts/Serials_crisis/IRAVLfNu">serials crisis</a>, unlike <a href="/facts/Newspaper/q4waJGVL">newspapers</a>, <a href="/facts/Magazine/4CPK1emz">magazines</a> and <a href="/facts/Fiction_writing/guxTNock">fiction writing</a>. The main difference between these two groups is in <a href="/facts/Demand_elasticity/kyrRxKln">demand elasticity</a>: whereas an English literature curriculum can substitute <a href="/facts/Harry_Potter_and_the_Philosopher%27s_Stone/AFPaD6Y1">Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone</a> with a free-domain alternative, such as <a href="/facts/Gulliver%27s_Travels/G2T65SUH">A Voyage to Lilliput</a>, an <a href="/facts/Emergency_room/Qo4NcDeP">emergency room</a> <a href="/facts/Physician/qJ3woFvG">physician</a> treating a patient for a life-threatening <a href="/facts/Urushiol/K0D4Njqr">urushiol</a> poisoning cannot substitute the most recent, but <a href="/facts/Paywalled/42qFQy1U">paywalled</a> review article on this topic with a 90 year-old copyright-expired article that was published before the invention of <a href="/facts/Prednisone/eGgPIauI">prednisone</a> in 1954.</li></ul>
<ul><li>the authors of research papers are not paid in any way, so they do not suffer any monetary losses, when they switch from <a href="/facts/Serials_crisis/IRAVLfNu">behind paywall</a> to open access publishing, especially, if they use <a href="/facts/Diamond_open_access/r7rLYN6C">diamond open access</a> media.</li></ul>
<ul><li>the cost of <a href="/facts/Electronic_publishing/1HuzvI5t">electronic publishing</a>, which has been the main form of distribution of <a href="/facts/Academic_journals/SBI7Ue0q">journal articles</a> since c. 2000, is incommensurably smaller, than the cost of on-paper publishing and distribution, which is still preferred by many readers of fiction.</li></ul>
Whereas non-open access journals cover publishing costs through <a href="/facts/Subscription_business_model/CNForGLH">access tolls</a> such as subscriptions, site licenses or <a href="/facts/Pay-per-view/pgoMWMbp">pay-per-view</a> charges, open-access journals are characterised by funding models which do not require the reader to pay to read the journal's contents, relying instead on <a href="/facts/Author_fees/TGXeo8q3">author fees</a> or on public funding, subsidies and sponsorships. Open access can be applied to all forms of published research output, including <a href="/facts/Peer-reviewed/ly6yEgcW">peer-reviewed</a> and non peer-reviewed <a href="/facts/Academic_journal/SBI7Ue0q">academic journal</a> articles, <a href="/facts/Conference_papers/WfPqsYr1">conference papers</a>, <a href="/facts/Theses/dYnTaYqQ">theses</a>, book chapters, <a href="/facts/Monograph/o8VRGpVc">monographs</a>, <a href="/facts/Research_report/KvRIGGlq">research reports</a> and images.

Open access open-in-new

Open access