Student Scholarship in SOAR (Scholarly Open Access Repository)

Researchers

• Increases readers' ability to find use relevant to literature
• Increases the visibility, readership and impact of author's work
• Creates new avenues for discovery in digital environment
• Enhances interdisciplinary research
• Accelerates the pace of research, discovery and innovation

Educational Institutions

• Contributes to core mission of advancing knowledge.
• Democratizes access across all institutions - regardless of size or budget
• Provides previously unattainable access to community colleges, two-year colleges, K-12 and other schools
• Provides access to crucial STEM materials.
• Increases competitiveness of academic institutions
• Ensures access to all that students need to know, rather wheat they (or their school) can afford
• Contributes to a better-educated workforce

Public

• Provides access to previously unavailable materials relating to health, energy, environment, and other areas of broad interest
• Creates better educated populace
• Encourages support of scientific enterprise and engagement in citizen science

Research Funders

• Leverage return on investment
• Creates tools to manage research portfolios
• Avoids funding duplicate research
• Creates transparency
• Encourages greater interaction with results of funded research

Business

• Access to cutting-edge research encourages innovation
• Stimulates new ideas, new services, new products
• Creates new opportunities for job creation

source: http://www.oaacademy.org/why-open-access.html