- Open Access means making digital research publications freely available so anyone can benefit from reading and using research.
- Open Access can be more than making research available to read, but also allowing others to re-use that research. For example, allowing the content to be analysed using text mining or reused for commercial purposes.
- Open Access publishing is part of a broader movement referred to as Open Research. Open Research is an interchangeable term with ‘Open Science’ or ‘Open Scholarship’. Open Research refers to extending the principles of openness to all aspects of the research lifecycle, including project proposals, open research data, open source software, open source hardware, open peer review, open notebooks, open educational resources and citizen science.
- The principles of Open Research apply across all disciplines. The key concept is that the underlying data, processes and outputs of research should be made as open and transparent as possible. Open Research supports reproducibility and can also boost the impact and visibility of research.
- The principles of Open Research are supported by many funding agencies such as the Wellcome Trust. Developments in Open Research are also being driven by the needs of researchers as well as other stakeholders including the public, industry and policy-makers.
Image: Robinson, D. and Champiueux, R. (2018) ‘What is open?’ Available at: https://osaos.codeforscience.org/what-is-open/ (Accessed 12 July 2021)
