What is Open Access?
Open Access is an academic movement whose objective is to provide free online access to academic/scientific information. Open Access means that you publish the results of your scientific research online, freely accessible to everyone. It offers an alternative to the traditional publishing model where scientific output is published behind a paywall.
Why make your work available in Open Access?
- The visibility of your publication grows;
- Because an Open Access publication is more accessible, it is more widely circulated and cited;
- Readers with limited financial means or without a journal subscription also have access to the publication (cf. scientific research is done with public funds, it is therefore only fair that the public can also view the results of that research).
- More and more funders of scientific research are imposing obligations on making publications available in Open Access.
Please note:
Making copyrighted material accessible via Open Access channels does not automatically mean that the author will lose her/his rights or that the commercialisation of the copyrighted material will be impeded. In principle authors of Open Access publications channels will also retain their rights, which users must observe at all times!