| Information on Open Access |
| Monday, 23 November 2009 22:14 |
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Open Access is the alternative to Closed Access (or Subscription Access or Toll Access). Open Access provides the means to maximise the visibility and use, of research outputs. Open Access is the immediate, online, free availability of research outputs without the severe restrictions on use commonly imposed by publisher copyright agreements. It concerns the outputs that scholars normally give away free to be published – peer-reviewed journal articles, conference papers and datasets of various kinds. There are two complementary roads to Open Access: Open Access publishing in the TU Delft Repository is facilitated by TU Delft Library. The Repository not only publishes articles, but also dissertations, Master theses, and other literature written by TU Delft scientists. Why should we have Open Access? Not only scholars benefit from Open Access. They are the most obvious beneficiaries, perhaps, because their work gains instant worldwide visibility, and they also gain as readers if much more world research is available on an Open Access basis for them to access freely and read. But there are many other beneficiaries, too. As of 2008 the TU Delft introduced an Open Access Fund. It offers financial support to scientists in rendering their articles in Open Access. Win an Open Access-donation now (till 31 December 2009). Research institutions benefit from having a management information tool that enables them to assess and monitor their research programmes, and they have a marketing tool that enables them to provide a shop window for their research efforts. The same advantages apply to external research funders who need to be able to access and keep track of outputs from their funding, and measure and assess how effectively their money has been spent. They also can ensure that the results of their spending have had the widest possible dissemination. It is because Open Access is so much in the interest of research funders and employers that an increasing number of them around the world are introducing Open Access policies that require their funded researchers to provide Open Access to their work. OA publishing involves different copyrights than publishing an article traditionally. TU Delft Library is an expert on this subject. The Copyright Information Point devotes special attention to the subject of Open Access. Advantages The advantages of Open Access for science and scholarship are, in brief:
Publishing in Open Access |
What does Open Access mean? 