OA JOURNALS: PUBLISHING: THE OA WAY

OPEN ACCESS PUBLISHING 

• Open Access (OA) publishing is the practice of disseminating scholarly literature, free of charge over the internet 
• Open Access generally observes the principle that researchers, and anyone else (including interested members of the public), are entitled to freely enjoy access to the results of publicly funded research  

Sources: 
PlosOne 2022 Simard, et al, "National differences in dissemination and use of open access literature", ttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272730
James Cook University, LibGuide, "What is Open Access?" https://libguides.jcu.edu.au/openaccess  

Source:  Wageningen University & Research, n.d. "Open Access Pros and Cons",  https://service.elsevier.com/app/home/supporthub/scopus/

What are the benefits of the Open Access model?

• The Open Access movement has trail-blazed employing new technologies to enable the rapid publishing and distribution of scholarly works

• Authors of Open Access publications are able to retain copyright (Some Traditional Publishers mandate the transference of copyright from the author to the publisher)  
   
• Many Open Access publishers do not require authors to pay an "Article Publishing Charge" - APC.  (We'll come to the issue later)

• It's believed OA articles may be advantaged in terms of gaining a larger audience (due to the no-subscription-cost aspect)
• And this where the taxpayer argument enters the scene:  where the research behind an article, and the researchers themselves, have their research funded by Government-derived, taxpayer funded grants, why should the citizens/taxpayers be expected to pay again? 

Source:  Rutgers University  https://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/research-tools-and-services/copyright-guidance/copyright-academic-research-and-publication/scholarly-publishing-traditional-and-open-access