Open Access

What is Open Access?

Open access is permanent free unrestricted access to digital literature such as journal articles and books. It is open to all without charge and licencing terms allow liberal reuse provided that the original source is cited. This facilitates discovery and sharing of your work.

Many research funders, such as UKRI, Wellcome Trust and European Commission, and the Research Excellent Framework (REF) have open access policies which aim to make research outputs openly available.

• 'Open Access Explained!' - video
• Open Access 101, from SPARC - video
• British Library 'A Guide to Open Access' 

 

Benefits of open access

• Open access leads to much faster and wider dissemination and sharing of research findings, improving researchers’ reputation. 
• It maximises research impact.  Numerous studies are confirming that an open access article is much more likely to be accessed and cited than an article which sits behind paid-for, traditional subscription models. 
• Institutional repositories (such as AURA here at Aberdeen) enhance the visibility of research undertaken by individuals, departments and research groups here at the University. This can be important in attracting research students and funding.  
• Since no library can possibly collect or provide access to all of the peer-reviewed scholarly literature, publishing research outputs via an OA model vastly increases all researchers’ access to the scholarly literature of their disciplines. 

Still need help?

The Open Research team is there to help you. Don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any further questions.