The document discusses the significance and implementation of open access (OA) publishing, highlighting its benefits such as increased visibility and accessibility of research. It outlines options for researchers to publish OA, including archiving in repositories and submitting to OA journals, while addressing misconceptions about costs and quality. The text also emphasizes the evolving landscape of OA and encourages researchers to engage in discussions about their publishing practices and the future of research accessibility.

1. Open Access:
Introduction
Gwen Franck
Ghent University Library
OpenAIRE project | Open Access Belgium

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3. • Research articles
datasets
• Free for the end user
• Digital
OA journals
OA repository
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5. Why should I care?
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6. • Increase visibility
• Research available as soon as possible
• Alternatives for the traditional scientific
publishing cycle
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7. • Tax payers’ money should be made
available (no ‘triple pay’)
• Research funders mandates
• Support worldwide access to research,
not only in ‘rich’ countries
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8. How
• Archive an open access version of your work in
a repository
OR
• Publish directly in an open access/hybrid
journal
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9. Open Access publishing
• Submit your work to OA Journals
• ‘Born OA’ or converted journals
• With or without Article Processing Charges/
Author Fees
• Level of openness = no indication of quality!
• Directory of OA Journals: www.doaj.org
– ALL quality OA journals are in DOAJ.
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10. OA publishing in quality journals ≠ (high) article
processing charges/author fees
(by the way: a lot of Open Access journals have a discount or even waiver policy for
author fees. So, if you can’t afford it, these are often negotiable! )
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11. ‘Hybrid’ OA
• After paying a fee/charge individual article
becomes immediately OA
• End result =
– Good because article becomes open but …
– Bad because expensive subscriptions for the
whole journal remain necessary
• Fastest growing component of OA publishing
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12. • Quality and Reputation : discipline-specific …
Some scientific domains contain more
quality OA journals than others
These are journals in political sciences …
• DOAJ political sciences
– http://www.doaj.org/doaj?func=subject&cpId=4
7&uiLanguage=en
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13. Self-archiving
• Deposit/Archive research in a repository
– Institutional
– Subject/discipline specific
• Better than personal, departmental or project
website!
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14. Self-archiving
• Advantage:
– Publish in any journal you want! (also the non-OA
ones)
– A majority of publishers (>75%) allow you to make
(a version) of your work OA through self-archiving
– Check publisher’s policies on
http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/
– If not allowed: negotiate!
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15. Self-archiving
• Immediately or after embargo period
(discipline-specific)
• ‘Free’
• Main focus of mandates
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16. What OA is not/should not be
• Extra burden for researchers
• Be a hindrance for your career
• Taking big chunks out of your research budget
• Limiting your choice of journals/prohibiting
you from publishing in the journal you want
• Going against the law/publisher’s policies
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17. It’s not over …
• Mainstreaming
– OA is becoming big business (> 20 % of all research
articles)
– More attention/ the stakes are raised!
– More discussion and debate. Internal differences
become outspoken
– From vibrant online only community to mainstream
press
– More risk of scams: author fees are tempting for frauds
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18. It’s not over …
• Experimenting
– New types of journals (PeerJ, …)
– Financing methods
– Altmetrics
• Text and data mining
• Licensing and copyright issues
• Open Access to research data?
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20. What do you think?
• Are you making your research OA already?
Why (not)?
• What can be done on university/government
level as an incentive?
• Would you consider taking part of OA
initiatives such as new journals, training
sessions, …
• How about your research data?
• …
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21. • www.openaccess.be
• info@openaccess.be/
• gwen.franck@ugent.be
• www.openaire.eu
• Twitter @openaccess_be
• Facebook ‘Open Access Belgium’
•  0032 9 264 94 72
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22. References
• 2: Open Access cartoon by Patrick Hochstenbach (@hochstenbach)
• 4: ‘Open Access Explained!’ PHD Comics by Jorge Cham, Nick Shockey and
Jonathan Eisen
• 6:
– Swan Alma, The Open Access citation advantage
http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/268516/2/Citation_advantage_paper.pdf
– ‘Journal board resigns’ http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/journals-editorial-
board-resigns-in-protest-of-publishers-policy-toward-authors/43149
• 7:
http://www.openoasis.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=78:articles&
id=28:developing-countries&Itemid=253
• 9 & 11: ‘APC graphic. Corbyn, Zoe. Price doesn't always buy prestige in open
access, Nature 22.01.2013 doi:10.1038/nature.2013.12259
• 16: ‘Nature vs. Science vs. Open Access’ PHD Comics by Jorge Cham
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