The Open Access (OA) initiative seeks to ensure that research outputs are accessible to all interested individuals. The focus is on world-wide, barrier-free, open access to research papers and creative literature, using a funding or economic paradigm that differs from current journal publishing models. The S
cholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) has written a very good overview of why OA matters and how it works. This initiative extends to textbooks and research data sets.
Richard Poynder published (December 2020) an eBook entitled "Open access: “Information wants to be free”?, which was written as a result of an interview and reflects the author's twenty years of reporting on the OA movement. This eBook includes factual data, as well as links and footnotes. The main focus in on science publishing and provides an excellent overview of the OA initiative.
The MSK Library is committed to the principles of open access to scientific literature as a means to accelerate scientific discovery and improve patient care. This Open Access LibGuide contains selected information resources to raise awareness of open access publishing options and offers guidance to authors of scholarly works who wish to disseminate their research without restrictions of the commercial/fee-based publishing model. This LibGuide is not intended as legal advice. The content found in each of the tabs above provides starting points for those interested in learning more about this movement.
Budapest,
Bethesda, and
Berlin are three open access declarations collectively known as the BBB which have shaped and formed the foundation of the OA publishing environment.