Open Access

What is Open Access?

According to the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), "Open Access is the free, immediate, online availability of research articles, coupled with the rights to use these articles fully in the digital environment."

This guide looks at open access from multiple angles and compiles resources for researchers, readers, and learners. You may want to use this guide to:

• Understand why open access is important
• Explore the social implications of open access
• Find and locate open access materials for courses
• Locate open access journals to publish your research in

You can also Ask a Librarian by dropping by the library to meet with a librarian, emailling, calling us, or contacting us through chat.

Open Access Week is a global event now entering its eighth year that aims to provide the academic and research community with information about open access resources and their potential benefits for scholarship and research.

Open access (OA) refers to scholarship that can be accessed online free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. OA materials are either published directly in open access journals (gold open access) or archived online after appearing in subscription journals (green open access). Take a look at this guide to learn more about what open access means and how it might affect you.