Editing Open access (section)

{{Short description|Research publications distributed freely online}}
{{distinguish|Open source}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
[[File:Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg|upright=0.5|thumb|Open access logo, originally designed by [[Public Library of Science]]]]
[[File:PhD Comics Open Access Week 2012.ogv|thumb|thumbtime=5:44|A [[Piled Higher and Deeper|''PhD Comics'']] introduction to open access]]

'''Open access''' ('''OA''') is a set of principles and a range of practices through which nominally [[copyright]]able publications are delivered to readers free of access charges or other barriers.<ref name="suber overview">{{Cite web |last=Suber |first=Peter |title=Open Access Overview |url=http://legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/overview.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070519103647/http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/overview.htm |archive-date=19 May 2007 |access-date=29 November 2014}}</ref> With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or [[Gratis versus libre|libre]] open access, barriers to copying or reuse are also reduced or removed by applying an [[open license]] for copyright, which regulates post-publication uses of the work.<ref name="suber overview" />

The main focus of the open access movement has been on "[[peer review]]ed research literature", and more specifically on [[academic journal]]s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Swan |first=Alma |date=2012 |title=Policy guidelines for the development and promotion of open access |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000215863 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414001646/https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000215863 |archive-date=14 April 2019 |access-date=14 April 2019 |website=UNESCO}}</ref> This is because:

* such publications [[academic journal publishing reform|have been]] a subject of [[serials crisis]], unlike [[newspaper]]s, [[magazine]]s and [[fiction writing]]. The main difference between these two groups is in [[demand elasticity]]: whereas an English literature curriculum can substitute ''[[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone]]'' with a free-domain alternative, such as ''[[Gulliver's Travels|A Voyage to Lilliput]],'' an [[emergency room]] [[physician]] treating a patient for a life-threatening [[urushiol]] poisoning cannot substitute the most recent, but [[paywalled]] review article on this topic<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Diedrich V, Zweerink K |title=Elder B. Plant Dermatitis |journal=Emerg Med Clin North Am. |date=2024 |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=613–638 |doi=10.1016/j.emc.2024.03.001 |pmid=38925778 |url=https://www.emed.theclinics.com/article/S0733-8627(24)00041-5/abstract}}</ref> with a 90-year-old copyright-expired article<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Hill GA, Mattacotti V |title=The Toxic Principle of the Poison Ivy |journal=Journal of the American Chemical Society |date=1934 |volume=56 |issue=12 |pages=2736–2738 |doi=10.1021/ja01327a064 |bibcode=1934JAChS..56.2736H |url=https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ja01327a064}}</ref> that was published before the invention of [[prednisone]] in 1954.

* the authors of research papers are not paid in any way, so they do not suffer any monetary losses, when they switch from [[Serials crisis#Big deal|behind paywall]] to open access publishing, especially, if they use [[diamond open access]] media.

* the cost of [[electronic publishing]], which has been the main form of distribution of [[academic journals|journal articles]] since {{circa|2000}}, is incommensurably smaller than the cost of on-paper publishing and distribution, which is still preferred by many readers of fiction.

Whereas non-open access journals cover publishing costs through [[Subscription business model|access tolls]] such as subscriptions, site licenses or [[pay-per-view]] charges, open-access journals are characterised by funding models which do not require the reader to pay to read the journal's contents, relying instead on [[author fees]] or on public funding, subsidies and sponsorships. Open access can be applied to all forms of published research output, including [[peer-reviewed]] and non peer-reviewed [[academic journal]] articles, [[conference papers]], [[theses]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Schöpfel |first1=Joachim |last2=Prost |first2=Hélène |year=2013 |title=Degrees of secrecy in an open environment. The case of electronic theses and dissertations |url=http://www.essachess.com/index.php/jcs/article/view/214 |url-status=live |journal=ESSACHESS – Journal for Communication Studies |volume=6 |issue=2(12) |pages=65–86 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101042356/http://www.essachess.com/index.php/jcs/article/view/214 |archive-date=1 January 2014}}</ref> book chapters,<ref name="suber overview" /> [[monograph]]s,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schwartz |first=Meredith |year=2012 |title=Directory of Open Access Books Goes Live |url=http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/04/academic-libraries/directory-of-open-access-books-goes-live/ |url-status=live |journal=Library Journal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004231707/http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/04/academic-libraries/directory-of-open-access-books-goes-live/ |archive-date=4 October 2013}}</ref> [[research report]]s and images.<ref name="esatc">{{Cite news |date=July 2014 |title=Terms and conditions for the use and redistribution of Sentinel data|publisher=European Space Agency |issue=version 1.0 |url=https://scihub.copernicus.eu/twiki/pub/SciHubWebPortal/TermsConditions/TC_Sentinel_Data_31072014.pdf |url-status=live |access-date=28 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200208083453/https://scihub.copernicus.eu/twiki/pub/SciHubWebPortal/TermsConditions/TC_Sentinel_Data_31072014.pdf |archive-date=8 February 2020}}</ref>