Not all access is OPEN-ACCESS is equal. Many journals have adopted policies that embrace some or all of the OA core components. But not all OA is the same. Open Access doesn't mean:
Created by SPARC in conjunction with PLOS and the Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA), the HowOpenIsIt? Open Access Guide standardizes OA terminology in an easily understandable, comprehensive resource. This guide provides a means to identify the core components of OA and how they are implemented across the spectrum between "One Access" and "Closed Access".
Open access is a publishing model for scholarly communication that makes research information available at no cost, unlike the traditional subscription model in which readers can access scholarly information by paying a subscription. Thus, the aim of open access is to make scholarly literature freely accessible and reusable for everyone – that is, free of charge and, as far as possible, free of technical and legal barriers. Any kind of digital content can be OA, from texts and data to software, audio, video, and multimedia. While most of these are related to publications only, a growing number are integrating text with images, data, and executable code. OA can also apply to non-scholarly content, like music, movies, and novels. One of the essential advantages of open access is that it increases the visibility and reuse of academic research results. The most commonly invoked definition of open access comes from the Budapest Declaration (2002)
Although costs for digital publishing can be lower than print publications, open-access publishing is not free. Instead of charging the reader for access through purchase or subscription, alternative business models have arisen that provide the publishers with the financial means for providing access to scholarships. One cost recovery model is the implementation of article processing charges (APCs). The author pays these charges (who may get assistance from research grants, the university, or the library) before publication. Production costs can also be offset by the publisher's sale of memberships, add-ons, and enhanced services.
Journals are sometimes fully subsidized by a sponsoring institution, funder, or other organization without charging authors or readers. However, while open-access publishing can potentially reduce costs, other driving forces behind open-access advocacy exist. The benefits to individual scholars, related institutions, scholarly communication, and the general researching public are also primary motivating factors.
There are two primary routes in which open-access literature can be published or otherwise made available. These two routes are frequently described as "gold open access" and "green open access."
DOAB is a community-driven discovery service that indexes and provides access to scholarly, peer-reviewed open-access books and helps users to find trusted open-access book publishers.
Provided by the OAPEN library and publication platform, the Open Access Books Toolkit covers specific topics related to open access books. Each article offers a quick and brief introduction to a particular aspect of open access book publishing.
A compendium of simple factual lists about open access to science and scholarship, maintained by the OA community at large.
An open database of free scholarly articles harvested from over 50,000 publishers and repositories. Unpaywall also offers a browser extension that finds open-access versions of articles.