What is open access?
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Open access (OA) means that anyone can read a research paper without paying or logging in, and, depending on the licence, can also reuse it. This guide explains the idea, the licences and the main routes, and what to check for in a journal.
Free to read, free to reuse
The Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) defines open access to peer-reviewed journal literature as free availability on the public internet. Users may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, link to, crawl or data-mine the full texts for any lawful purpose, without financial, legal or technical barriers other than those needed to get online. BOAI adds that the only limits on reproduction and distribution should be the author's control over the integrity of the work and the right to be properly credited and cited.
So "free to read" is only part of the idea. Reuse rights, such as copying and building on the text with credit, are the other part. A paper that is free to read but cannot be copied or shared may be called "free access", but it does not meet the BOAI idea of open access.
Licences (CC BY explained)
An open licence is the legal statement that tells readers what they may do. Creative Commons licences are the most widely used. The deed for CC BY 4.0 says that you may share the material in any format and adapt it for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you give credit, link to the licence, and indicate whether you changed anything. It also says you may not add legal terms or technical measures that prevent others from doing what the licence allows, and the licensor cannot withdraw these permissions while the terms are followed. The deed is a summary, not the legal text.
- CC BY lets you keep the copyright and still allows reuse with credit.
- Other CC licences add conditions; for example, CC BY-NC restricts commercial use. Read the exact licence name and its link on the article page.
- DOAJ's transparency principles say that journals should show licence information clearly and consistently, that full texts should display their licence terms, and that open access content should use an open licence.
- When you reuse an open article, always follow the attribution rules it states. Look at the licence of each figure; some may be marked differently.
Gold, green and diamond
- Green (self-archiving): BOAI's first strategy is for scholars to deposit their refereed articles in open electronic archives. Archives following Open Archives Initiative standards can be searched as one collection. Always check the journal's own policy before you deposit.
- Gold (open access journals): BOAI's second strategy is for scholars to start new open access journals, or help existing journals transition, without subscription or access fees. Costs can be covered by funders, universities, endowments or authors. When authors or their funders pay, the fee is often called an article processing charge (APC); DOAJ's principles ask journals to state any fees clearly before submission begins and to explain any waiver policy.
- Diamond: Coalition S describes diamond open access as a model in which journals and platforms cost neither authors nor readers anything. These outlets are run by academics and guided by their own research communities, often serving smaller, multilingual groups of scholars.
How this journal applies it
Check these points on the journal's own pages rather than relying on a general guide:
- Which licence the articles carry, and whether it is shown on each article.
- Who keeps the copyright in articles: the authors or the journal.
- Whether the journal charges fees to authors or readers, and whether waivers exist.
- Whether the journal's policy lets authors deposit their article in a repository.
The Think. Check. Submit. checklist asks the same questions: whether an open access journal has a clear licensing policy, whether authors can keep copyright and share their work in a repository, and whether the journal is listed in the DOAJ. DOAJ is a global index of open access journals, run by a non-profit foundation, that publishes criteria for inclusion. Being listed is a useful signal, but WAME cautions that absence from DOAJ does not by itself prove that a journal is illegitimate.