Open access (OA) means free unlimited online access to scientific literature and professional information, especially the full texts of scientific articles published in peer-reviewed journals, but also monographs and other valuable information resources.
Characteristics of Open Access
- immediate – access to the results should be ensured at the latest at the moment when it is published (possibly even before publication – e.g. in a preprint repository), it is access without time embargo
- no cost – access to the results should be available free of charge to end users
- permanent – access should be guaranteed in the long term – results must be archived
- free – the results should not be available only for reading, but should be made public so that they can be reused (e.g. by publishing under a free licence)
Open Access versus the traditional publishing model
OA was created as a reaction to the traditional system of distribution of scientific literature by large scholarly publishers, which has recently resulted in constantly increasing prices for access to current scientific publications and, as a consequence, slowing down the sharing of the latest knowledge.
Open access is an alternative to the traditional publishing process; the two models are not in direct opposition. Open access expands the possibilities for the distribution of scientific knowledge without undermining the position of professional publishers. For the scientific community, OA represents an adequate opportunity to disseminate scientific outputs in the virtual environment of today’s Internet.