Information about Open Access (OA)

What is Open Access?

Open Access (OA) can be defined as providing online access to scientific data,  information and knowledge for end users free of charge, without restrictions and violation of copyright. Open Access journals are peer-reviewed and of high quality. Open Access approach enables to reuse the results of research.

The basic philosophy of Open Access approach is that the research and scientific activities are mostly financed from public sources, and therefore their output should be publicly accessible to all.

Open Access is the output of Open Science (OS). Open Science is a model that enables the availability of scientific research, data and dissemination of information for professionals as well as other users. It includes practices such as making open research available to vast audiences, organizing campaigns for Open Access, encouraging scientists to publish openly and generally facilitating publishing and communication of scientific knowledge.

Advantages of Open Access

Open access provides various advantages for different groups of users:

Authors – faster process of publishing and the possibility of increasing the citation rates.

Readers – unlimited access to and greater accessibility of information. Readers can use free software, e.g. for full-text searching, indexing, creating links, etc.

Teachers and students – OA eliminates fee payment and permissions for the reproduction and distribution of documents.

Libraries – OA approach is budget-friendly and eliminates problems with licenses. 

Universities – OA makes scientific results available, easily accessible and visible, and consequently increases overall prestige of the university.

Publishers and journals – OA draws attention to the publishers’ output and increases interest in publishing.

Grant agencies – publishing scientific results in OA journals may increase the return on investment in research provided by grant agencies, as well as quality of publications funded by grant funds.

Government – OA approach meets legal requirements. Thanks to using public funds, the research results are available to vast audiences.

Citizens – OA method allows citizens to access the results of science that they pay for with their taxes.

Spôsoby OA publikovania

Zelená cesta - autor zverejní plný text svojho článku vo verejne prístupnom úložisku alebo na vlastnej webovej stránke. Pri zelenej ceste knižnice, výskumné inštitúcie a štáty budujú a zabezpečujú fungovanie infraštruktúry - repozitárov. Autori nemajú žiadne finančné náklady. V súvislosti so zeleným prístupom OA sa využívajú predmetové alebo inštitucionálne repozitáre. Viac info a postup autorov pri publikovaní >>>

Diamantová cesta  -  akademické texty (ako napríklad monografie, zborníky a články v časopisoch) sú zverejnené online, distribuované a uchovávané bez akýchkoľvek poplatkov pre čitateľa alebo autora. Viac info >>>

Zlatá cesta - otvorený prístup zabezpečujú časopisy, v ktorých je obsah poskytovaný čitateľom zadarmo a autori hradia poplatky za spracovanie článku (tzv. Article Processing Charge - APC). Pri  odbornej monografii vydavateľ zabezpečí prístup k recenzovanému plnému textu knihy v elektronickom formáte. Viac info a postup autorov pri publikovaní >>>

Niekoľko ďalších prístupov - hybridný, oneskorený, krátkodobý, vybraný a čiastočný predstavili komerční vydávatelia. Sú to však najmä selektívne otvorené obsahy, a to s alebo bez adekvátnych Open Access oprávnení.