Open Access

This is an introduction to open access (OA) for those who are new to the concept.

An online guide from the Special Libraries Association discussing the decision to publish or serve as an editor for open access journals.

Bibliographies of open access related to: General Works, Open Access Statements, Copyright Arrangements for Self-Archiving and Use, Open Access Journals, E-Prints
Disciplinary Archives, Institutional Archives and Repositories, Open Archives Initiative and OAI-PMH, Conventional Publisher Perspectives, Government Inquires and Legislation, Open Access Arrangements for Developing Countries, Interviews and Profiles, and Economic support for open access

The Berlin declaration on Open Access to Scientific Knowledge of 22 October 2003 was written in English (Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities) and is one of the milestones of the open access movement.

The Budapest Open Access Initiative arises from a small but lively meeting convened in Budapest by the Open Society Foundations (OSF) on December 1-2, 2001. The purpose of the meeting was to accelerate progress in the international effort to make research articles in all academic fields freely available on the internet. It is at once a statement of principle, a statement of strategy, and a statement of commitment.

The following statements of principle were drafted during a one-day meeting held on April 11, 2003 at the headquarters of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland. The purpose of this document is to stimulate discussion within the biomedical research community on how to proceed, as rapidly as possible, to the widely held goal of providing open access to the primary scientific literature. Our goal was to agree on significant, concrete steps that all relevant parties —the organizations that foster and support scientific research, the scientists that generate the research results, the publishers who facilitate the peer-review and distribution of results of the research, and the scientists, librarians and other who depend on access to this knowledge— can take to promote the rapid and efficient transition to open access publishing.

Open Access Week is an opportunity for the academic and research community to continue to learn about the potential benefits of Open Access, to share what they’ve learned with colleagues, and to help inspire wider participation in helping to make Open Access a new norm in scholarship and research.