Open access (OA) allows for free and immediate online access to scholarly works that anyone can read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or share. OA differs from traditional pay-to-read subscription models that are traditionally paid for by libraries.
OA publishing comes with several advantages: it removes access barriers for the research community and beyond, and it also gives the authors more exposure and a wider reach. Authors retain their intellectual property rights, and they may choose to publish under a Creative Commons license that specifies how readers may use their articles.
Open access can be a complex issue, and the terminology can be confusing. SPARC, PLOS, and OASPA have created a guide for evaluating the openness of journals called HowOpenIsIt? The guide shows the spectrum of openness on a range of components:
We are delighted to announce that through Belk Library, Elon University has entered agreements that enables researchers at Elon to publish their articles open access (OA) with the following publishers:
Read how one Elon faculty member benefitted from the library's OA agreement.