Open Access Publishing Basics
Open Access (OA) publishing refers to the free, immediate, online availability of scholarly work, often with fewer copyright or licensing restrictions than traditional publishing, and always without subscription or paywall barriers. As such, it supports global knowledge-sharing, increases the visibility of authors, and can lead to more citations.
OA Publishing Guidance
- OASPA (Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association): A non-profit trade association representing organizations that publish scholarly literature.
- SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resource Coalition): International alliance of academic libraries that shares news and best practices centered on Open Access principles.
OA Repositories
OA Repositories can be institutional or subject-based. Examples below.
- Rollins Scholarship Online: Rollins' hub for open research by faculty and students.
- arXiv.org: An open, pre-print repository for scholarly works in physics, math, and computer science.
- PubMed Central: A free, full-text online archive of biomedical and life science literature from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
ResearchGate.net & Academia.edu
ResearchGate and Academia.edu are NOT considered open access repositories.
These platforms are for-profit academic social networks (like Facebook or LinkedIn), not true open access archives. They lack stability and discoverability, and posting work there can violate publisher copyright agreements.
Further Reading on Open Access Publishing
For a fuller introduction to Open Access (OA) see Perter Suber’s Open Access Overview:
Library Support for Open Access
The library offers grant opportunities for instructors to support the creation of open educational resources.
Explore Grants →