Open Access: Benefits and Misimpressions
What are the benefits to publishing and using open access models?
There are a multitude of benefits to open access publishing, not only to the public at-large, but also to the authors:
- A common misunderstanding regarding traditional publishing is that the author always retains the right to use his/her work freely, even after they have transferred copyright to the publisher. This may not be true, depending upon the terms of the agreement. Along with copyright, authors may have also transferred their right to use that material for teaching or reuse in another publication. By publishing through an open access model, authors guarantee to themselves that they may freely reuse their research in the future. Additionally, authors ensure that their students have free and easy access to their research if they choose to use it as course material.
- An oft-overlooked benefit to open access publishing is the potential for a larger audience, which can increase visibility and impact of a work.
- The institution as a whole gains an advantage by having its scholars publishing their research via open access, as it raises the research profile of the entire academic community.
- Open access bridges the information divide between the wealthy and the economically disadvantaged. By publishing via the open access model, authors ensure that all individuals and institutions, regardless of financial state, have access to their research.
Misimpressions about open access
Open access journals do not contain high-quality research and/or do not go through a peer-review process.
- Most open access journals go through an identical or similar process of peer-review as for-profit publications. Moreover, open access journals such as PLoS Biology are consistently found to rank very highly in impact factors from publications such as the Journal Citation Report.
Open access is an unsustainable business model/the author always has to pay.
- Not all open access models require the author to pay. Additionally, many academic institutions will support their faculty in publishing via open access by helping them find grants and other sources of external funding to support their research and publication fees. Please see UWO's Office of Grants and Faculty Development for more information.
Public access, through mandates such as the NIH policy, achieve the same result as open access.
- Public access is actually different from open access. Whereas open access allows free access to a research work immediately upon publication, public access mandates such as NIH's allow publishers the option of preventing access to a work for up to twelve months.
Libraries are interested in open access because it saves them money on journal and database subscriptions.
- While journal and database subscriptions have risen well above the pace of normal inflation, libraries have always been strong proponents for public access to research and other information. The open access model of publication helps libraries to increase this access by making information free and accessible to the general public through repositories, journals, and other means.
The above misimpressions are just a few of the many that exist. For a comprehensive list, please visit the references below.
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Information adapted, in part, from:
BioMed Central. Misleading open access myths. Link here.
OASIS. Self-archiving FAQs. Link here.
