Guest Post: A Few Words About Open Access

[Note: This week’s post is by Peter Burnett, head of library development at INASP. Thank you, Peter! —Barbara]

An international celebration and promotion of open access (OA) will be taking place during 18–24 October. During this period, called Open Access Week, many libraries are promoting OA journals. They also are showcasing activities of universities and research institutions regarding OA (free online access).

As part of its contribution to Open Access Week, INASP recently offered competitive grants to help libraries increase awareness of OA. Eleven proposals were chosen. The INASP winter newsletter will include write-ups and photos from the funded events.

There are 2 main ways to provide OA: OA journals and OA repositories. Both make content freely available. Currently, about 5,500 journals—containing more than 450,000 articles—are registered in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). It is estimated that some 20% of peer-reviewed articles across all disciplines are now available via OA.

Unlike OA journals, OA archives or repositories do not perform peer review. They simply make their content freely available. They may be institutional or subject-based. They may contain preprints (articles not yet published), refereed postprints (articles that have appeared in journals), or both.

Most journal publishers let authors archive their postprints. You can check the SHERPA/RoMEO website to find a summary of permissions normally included in each publisher's copyright transfer agreement. This site also includes a list of publishers that let authors deposit the published version or PDF of their article in an institutional repository without a fee or embargo (waiting period).

Visit your library to learn more about what's happening during Open Access Week!