Open Access
"Open Access (OA) literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. What makes it possible is the internet and the consent of the author or copyright-holder." [1] There are many institutions in place that facilitate open access publishing, such as peer-reviewed journals, institutional repositories, and disciplinary repositories and archives.
Peer-reviewed OA journals have the same quality control filters as traditional journal publishing, but their content is made freely accessible. Content can be discovered through general search engines like Google or through subscription databases. This publishing model removes the cost from the point of access and places the responsibility on the party interested in publishing its research. In the open access publishing model, funding for publishing fees is included in research grants or subsidized by the author's institution, not paid for by the author him/herself. For a list of predominately science-based funding agencies that allow their grants to cover article-processing charges, visit the BioMed Central site. Some publishers waive or discount publishing fees if the author's institution is a member or subscribes to the journal.
OA books are gaining enormous momentum with Google Book Search, Google's mass digitization project. Google has partnered with publishers, libraries and universities to freely make available books out of copyright, and to give limited previews of books under copyright. Project Gutenberg is another major producer of OA ebooks that are out of copyright.
Repositories and archives are designed to complement peer-reviewed publishing. Authors can freely deposit pre- and post-prints (with their publisher's permission), gray literature, dissertations and theses, and supplementary materials. The institution then takes responsibility for the preservation of the materials. Both preservation and widespread dissemination increase the impact of the author's work.
Indiana University Libraries and Open Access
IUScholarWorks is a suite of services provided by Indiana University Libraries and Indiana University Digital Library Program that disseminates and preserves your work. IUScholarWorks Repository is a service that makes IU research freely available online, increasing its impact. IUScholarWorks Journals is a platform that hosts open access journals, whose goal is to "provide server space and to support the use of Open Journal Systems (OJS) as a full-service publishing option for IU scholars who desire local control." [2]
University Digital Library Program, "committed to the creation of open-access digital resources for research and instruction," produces, maintains, preserves and delivers a large number of open access resources, and initiates research and development projects.[3] DLP collections utilize both public domain and copyrighted works, where IU is the copyright holder or where permission is granted.
How you can support open access
- Deposit your work in IUScholarWorks Repository. To check your publisher's transfer of copyright agreement, visit SHERPA/RoMEO.
- Publish your work in open access journals. There is a list of open access journals at the Directory of Open Access Journals site.
- Publicize open access journals by using them in your own work and incorporating OA articles into your syllabi.
- Read Peter Suber's What you can do to promote open access - Universities: Faculty.
References
1. Suber, Peter. A Very Brief Introduction to Open Access.2. IUScholarWorks. IUScholarWorks Journals
3. Indiana University Digital Library Program. About Us: Overview of the Digital Library Program.
