Benefits of Open Access

Open access (OA) is a broad international movement that refers to freely available, digital, online information. It makes published academic research freely and permanently available online. The articles published with open access platform is free of charges for readers and often carries less restrictive copyright than traditionally published works (subscription-based), for both users and authors. A publication is defined as ‘open access’ when anyone can read, download, copy, distribute, print, or use it in education or in any other way within the legal agreements. Many open access journals comply with well-established peer-review processes and maintain high publishing standards. OA accelerates research, enriches education, makes this literature as useful as it can be, and lays the foundation for uniting humanity in a common intellectual conversation and quest for knowledge.

Publishing with open access platform offers several benefits-

  • The authors can address a wider audience without the corresponding expenditure.
  • The reach of published articles increases tremendously since readers can retrieve it regardless of their economic status or geographical location.
  • Open-access publications are usually less expensive to produce and disseminate from which both journals and publishers can benefit.
  • Institutions can enhance their profile by promoting open-access publishing.
  • Funding agencies supporting research publishing in open access can achieve more prominence.
  • An article can typically be more easily located if it is easily available online.
  • Articles tend to have a much bigger impact in the short-term period compared to “subscription-only” work.
  • They are downloaded and cited more frequently than articles from non-Open Access journals.
  • Open Access articles are published sooner than articles in subscription journals.
  • Science advances faster when researchers can read and build on the findings of others without restriction.
  • Open access journals are multidisciplinary that help researchers connect more easily and provide greater visibility of their research.