Open Access (OA) as defined by the Budapest Open Access Initiative, means "its free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles..." The Budapest definition also includes access to data-mine and remix works; other organizations have a narrower view focusing on just freely available access to read/view. The PLoS How Open Is It Open Access Spectrum guide illustrates the full spectrum of open access options.
Open Access refers only to the method of access and is not a reflection on quality. Some journals (particularly in the sciences) may ask their authors to pay an Article Processing Charge (APC) to offset the cost of making their article open access. APCs are not an indicator of a low-quality publication and may be written into some grant applications.
Consider publishing open access so that more researchers and the public will have great access to your work.
The Texas A&M University-San Antonio Library is committed to helping you get your work out to the world. One way we do this is by supporting Open Access publishing. We have agreements in place with two publishers to completely cover (Cambridge) or offer reduced (MDPI) Article Processing Charges (APCs), making Open Access publishing an affordable option for our faculty. If the journal you want to publish with doesn't offer an Open Access option, we can also work with you to get a version of the article uploaded into our institutional repository, Digital Commons @ Texas A&M University-San Antonio. If you have any questions about Open Access publishing, please get in touch with your subject librarian or with Deirdre McDonald, Research Services Manager.
Learn more about our Open Access publishing agreements.
Open access is usually referred to as "GREEN" or "GOLD".
GREEN is the ability to archive a work. This could be preprint or post print depending on the publishers terms. AxXiv and CurateND are examples of repositories.
GOLD is the published version of the work freely available and hosted by the publisher. Gold articles may appear in open access journals or in 'hybrid' journals. In many cases Gold open access involves an Article Processing Charge (APC) but traditional publishers also often require APC or fees for special features such as color images. PLoS is an example of a Gold open access journal.
Hybrid journals offer an option for authors to pay, up-front, to have their articles open access as if they were gold open access. These journals will have both closed (behind pay walls) and open content. Many find this model objectionable because purchasing a subscription means paying to access content that is open access.
Journals that follow the highest standards of open access publishing may carry a seal from the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). The seal reflects only best practices as a publisher, not a statement of quality on the content.
Not certain what the Open Access policy of your publishers is? Check Sherpa/Romeo.
Not sure if a grant-issuing agency has an open access policy?
Here are some tools but the easiest way to be certain is to Google the agency and open access, e.g. National Science Foundation open access policy.
Finding Open Access Publications
This link opens in a new windowAims to increase the visibility and ease of use of open access scientific and scholarly journals thereby promoting their increased usage and impact. Information is available for most disciplines.
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Provides open access to approximately 745,000 e-prints which cover subject areas such as physics, mathematics, computer science, quantitative biology, quantitative finance, and statistics.