Open access (OA)

Open access (OA) is a term used in publishing. It refers to data, scientific findings, technical journal entries, research articles, and other primarily nonfiction literature that are available for free, with little to no restrictions regarding licenses and copyright. The vast majority of open-access materials are published online since that allows for a much wider distribution at a much lower cost than physical media.

Traditionally, scholarly articles are published in journals that need subscriptions to read. If other scientists want to use findings for their own research, use or licensing fees are often required. This model persists and has expanded to include online publications. While the open-access model continues to grow in popularity, many scholars defend the traditional model. Some authors rely on the royalties from copyright and licensing fees to fund their research and simply earn living wages.

Open-access materials can gain a larger readership more quickly than articles published in traditional journals. This allows scientists to share data and discoveries efficiently, leading to more progress. Proponents of the open-access model argue that knowledge and information should be readily available to the public and that society should be as informed as possible.

Brief History

By the second half of the twentieth century, some scholarly journals, believing that scientific knowledge should be shared on principle, began setting the condition that any content they published would be set in the public domain. However, the move was not financially sound for the majority of journals.

In 1989, the European Organization for Nuclear Research—CERN—oversaw the invention of the World Wide Web. While the Internet had been around for decades, the Web was a critical development in making it much more accessible to a general audience. With the growth of the Internet, several scholarly journals began publishing online. Without the costs of printing and shipping physical copies of journals, it became much more feasible to distribute publications.

The Human Genome Project set an early example for how science could benefit from open access. The project was conceived in the mid-1980s as an effort to map the sequences of genetic code that make up deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). It officially began in 1990 and involved collaboration on a global scale. Research was carried out across twenty different laboratories, and communication between them was essential.

The project set a very important precedent in 1996. Following conflict over the patent rights of a particular finding, project leaders met to discuss strategy. They found that a lot of delays were stemming from researchers' attempts to protect their rights to their individual findings—actions that they were entitled to take, but were hindering the project. They established an entirely new set of rules for this project, agreeing to share all findings and data with all other laboratories within twenty-four hours. The decision to prioritize the advancement of the project as a whole led to accelerated progress, and it was considered completed in 2003.

The success of the Human Genome Project prompted the scientific community and publishers alike to evaluate the benefits of sharing materials more readily. In 2001, the Center for the Public Domain helped establish Creative Commons, an organization dedicated to licensing works so that they are readily accessible while protecting the creators' interests.

Topic Today

The start of the twenty-first century was critical for the development of open access. The Internet and other communications technology saw rapid advances that helped disseminate information quickly and easily. For instance, BioMed Central emerged shortly after the turn of the century, and it became the model for open-access databases. It hosted articles from numerous journals, as well as self-published pieces, providing a single destination for those seeking the relevant information. Other online databases soon followed.

Open access saw significant opposition, however, from journal publishers and authors alike. Several of the traditional scholarly journals had developed reputations as reliable, prestigious publications. This was important to many scholars because many of them published work associated with small projects that would require substantially more funding and interest to continue researching. Many also relied on their published work to expand their networks and build their careers; therefore, if their work was in a respectable journal, it gave the authors greater visibility and respect. From their point of view, open access was an extremely successful model for the Human Genome Project, but that was a global study backed by substantial resources. A paper on a small project from a single laboratory may never stand out if it was simply shared online.

Tens of thousands of scholars rallied to help raise the profile of the open-access model. They signed what was titled "An Open Letter to Scientific Publishers" in 2001, in which they agreed to only submit and peer review materials published in open-access publications, hoping to pressure publishers to convert to this model. While few traditional publications changed their structures, the letter did help raise awareness of open-access publishing globally and created the Public Library of Science, one of the most prestigious open-access publishers.

Public institutions were major supporters during the rapid growth of open access. Libraries and universities need to pay for subscriptions to stock scholarly journals, and most welcome an alternative method of providing patrons with comparable materials without the cost. Since universities produce research as well as provide journals, their relationships with publishers are more complicated. One trend that has helped encourage more universities to adopt the open-access model is increasing collaboration. Since the late twentieth century, universities have formed more research partnerships than in the past, both with other universities and with industries.

The 2010s saw more progress for open access. Jay Bradner, working in a Harvard University laboratory, discovered a molecule in mice that appeared to have cancer-fighting potential in 2010. He published the results via open access, and after follow-up research and tests, the molecule—JQ1—proved valuable in treatments of several serious diseases. In 2013, CERN began an initiative known as SCOAP³, the Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics. This global effort helped physicists share data on a massive scale.

Discussion of open access spread outside of the scholarly community, becoming a subject in highly influential places. In the 2010s, the US Congress discussed multiple cases involving it. In 2016, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation made a policy that all research funded by its grants must be open access, with no waiting period. The argument that open access was not only convenient but also provided a right to information became more common, particularly in the medical field.

In the 2020s, open access mandates have increased. According to the Registry of Open Access Repository Mandates and Policies in 2022, more than 140 research funders and 878 universities were registered. However, compliance rates with voluntary open access policies remained low. While open access policies enabled more researchers to read scientific literature throughout the world, a disparity existed when it came to the publication of material. A 2022 study published in Nature found that the article-processing fees (APFs) charged by open access publishers prevented authors in low- and middle-income countries from publishing their research.

Bibliography

Barbour, Virginia. "How the Insights of the Large Hadron Collider Are Being Made Open to Everyone." Phys Org, 13 Jan. 2017, phys.org/news/2017-01-insights-large-hadron-collider.html. Accessed 14 Jan. 2017.

"Benefits of Open Access Journals." PLOS, www.plos.org/open-access. Accessed 14 Jan. 2017.

"Global Open Access Portal." United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/portals-and-platforms/goap/. Accessed 14 Jan. 2017.

Harmon, Elliot. "Open Access Rewards Passionate Curiosity: 2016 in Review." Electronic Frontier Foundation, 24 Dec. 2016, www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/12/open-access-rewards-passionate-curiosity-2016-review. Accessed 14 Jan. 2017.

Harmon, Elliot. "What If Elsevier and Researchers Quit Playing Hide-and-Seek?" Electronic Frontier Foundation, 16 Dec. 2015, www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/12/what-if-elsevier-and-researchers-quit-playing-hide-and-seek. Accessed 14 Jan. 2017.

"How Did the Human Genome Project Make Science More Accessible?" YourGenome.org, 13 June 2016, www.yourgenome.org/stories/how-did-the-human-genome-project-make-science-more-accessible. Accessed 14 Jan. 2017.

Kwon, Diana. "Open-Access Publishing Fees Deter Researchers in the Global South." Nature, 22 Feb. 2022, www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00342-w. Accessed 29 Dec. 2022.

"Open Access Week." Open Access Week, www.openaccessweek.org/. Accessed 14 Jan. 2017.

Suber, Peter. "Open Access Overview." Earlham College, 5 Dec. 2015, legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/overview.htm. Accessed 14 Jan. 2017.

"What Is Open Access and Why Does It Matter?" Brown University, 3 Oct. 2024, libguides.brown.edu/oa. Accessed 19 Nov. 2024.

"Who Are We & Why This Website?" EnablingOpenScholarship, www.openscholarship.org/jcms/c‗5012/en/home. Accessed 14 Jan. 2017.

Wilder, Richard, and Melissa Levine. "Let's Speed Up Science by Embracing Open Access Publishing." STAT, 19 Dec. 2016, www.statnews.com/2016/12/19/open-access-publishing/. Accessed 14 Jan. 2017.