What is Open Access?

Open Access is the immediate, online, free availability of research outputs without restrictions on use commonly imposed by publisher copyright agreements. Open Access includes the outputs that scholars normally give away for free for publication; it includes peer-reviewed journal articles, conference papers and datasets of various kinds.

Why Open Access?

Here are some of the advantages of Open Access:

- Access can be greatly improved

Access to knowledge, information, and data is essential in higher education and research; and more generally, for sustained progress in society. Improved access is the basis for the transfer of knowledge (teaching), knowledge generation (research), and knowledge valorisation (civil society).

- Increased visibility and higher citation rates

Open Access articles are much more widely read than those which are not freely available on the Internet. Webwide availability leads to increased use which, in turn, raises citation rates, a fact that has been empirically supported by several studies. Depending on the field in question, Open Access articles achieve up to three times higher citation rates and they are cited much sooner (cf. for example Lawrence: Free online availability substantially increases a paper's impact, or Harnad & Brody: Comparing the Impact of Open Access (OA) vs. Non-OA Articles in the Same Journals).

- Free Access to information

Open Access content is freely available worldwide, thus enabling people from poorer countries to access and utilise scientific knowledge and information which they would not otherwise be able to afford.

For more information on Open Access we have collected a number of Open Access resources here: Related Links