Introduction

Open access is likely to be the area of research support which most library staff are familiar with, even if they do not fully understand the landscape. Although it has been steadily growing in popularity for some time, open access has come to the attention of most people through mandates set down by publishers and research funders. It is potentially one of the most disruptive changes to the publishing world in recent years and therefore affects many libraries and their users, particularly as a method of accessing previously hidden research findings. As it focuses on the publication and sharing of outputs open access is most commonly considered at the publish and promote stages of the research lifecycle and many researchers leave thinking about it until they are almost at the end of their project. It would be advantageous for them to consider it at an earlier stage as part of their plan, so they can make the appropriate arrangements. There is a place for open access at the discover stage of the research lifecycle as researchers will have increased access to a range of information which they can include in their work. Librarians with a knowledge of this area can advise researchers on decisions they should take relating to open access.

Once they have read this chapter readers will understand the basic concepts of open access, its benefits and how they can be applied to their local research communities. Although open access is a complex and fast moving area, having this basic grasp of the philosophy will help library staff to engage with researchers on this important issue and better understand how they can play a fundamental role in its support.

What is open access?

Unlike many other terms used in this book, open access has a concrete definition. Put simply, open access is the process of making scholarly output freely available for anyone to view online. Although advances in technology have made it easier than ever before to access a wealth of information, for many people there are still barriers to obtaining informed, scholarly information. Open access has arisen as a response to traditional publishing models where readers are charged, either in time or money (when content is held behind a paywall), to view the outputs of research.