Open Access Publications & Initiatives

Open access (OA) is freely available, digital, online information. It is free of charge and often carries less restrictive copyright and licensing barriers than published works. Many OA journals comply with well-established peer-review processes and maintain high publishing standards.
While OA is a newer form of scholarly publishing, many OA journals comply with well-established peer-review processes and maintain high publishing standards.

Models of Open Access:

1. Gold: PLOS ONE (Example): In this model the publisher charges the author the article processing charges to offset the publishing cost
2. Hybrid OA: In this model the author may face the choice of the submitting the article to a journal that is partially closed.
3. Green OA: The publisher allows the author to archive and post the specific version of their articles usually restricting the sharing of preprint version of the article and setting an embargo period.
4. Bronze OA: In this model the article is made openly available after publication in absence of any formal agreement between the author and the publisher. The availability may change at any time and the article do not include an OA license. A 2018 study found that the bonze OA accounts for majority of OA publishing.
5. Diamond OA: In this model universities or organization cover the cost assessed by the publishers. it is not free to publish in this model.

Open Access Journals:

• BioMed Central: BioMed Central Ltd., publications include biology and medicine journal articles, current reports, and meeting abstracts. It is an independent publisher in London, England, provides free access to biomedical research publications.
• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ): This is a searchable directory of open access journals across all disciplines.
• Elsevier's OA Journals: Elsevier publishes many journals and scholarly works in various disciplines. This site provides a list of this publisher's open access journals.
• International Association for Media and Communication Research OA journal list: This website lists open access journals in the field of media and communications research.
• Knowledge Unlatched: Knowledge Unlatched works with libraries and academic publishers to make selected books openly accessible. The model depends on libraries contributing to cover a publisher's costs on a book; when the cost-recovery goal is met, the book becomes open access.
• MediaCommonsPress: An "in-development feature of Media Commons promoting the digital publication of texts in the field of media studies, ranging from article-to monograph-length.”
• MLA Commons: A network linking members of the Modern Language Association. "MLA Commons, in addition to supporting a wide range of informal blogs and discussion groups, offers a robust platform for more formal publications—both member-generated and those initiated by the association

Open Access Explained: https://youtu.be/L5rVH1KGBCY

SPARC: SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) works to enable the open sharing of research outputs and educational materials in order to democratize access to knowledge, accelerate discovery, and increase the return on our investment in research and education.

COPE: COPE(Committee on Publication Ethics) is committed to educating and supporting editors, publishers and those involved in publication ethics with the aim of moving the culture of publishing towards one where ethical practice become a normal part of the publishing culture.

LIBER: Ligue des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherche is an Association of European Research Libraries to promote world-class research. The network of liber is covering organizations in Europe and beyond and is based on goal-oriented partnerships. LIBER's 2018-2022 policy endorses the exceptional focus on the key topics of Copyright Reform, Digital Humanities, Open Access, Metrics, Research Data Management, etc.