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A definition of Open Access

The term Open Access was coined by researchers trying to remove access barriers to research literature but not necessarily permission barriers.[1] Open Access offers an alternative to the traditional “closed” system of scholarly communication, which is often slow, costly, and inefficient for fostering research collaboration and discovery. Despite being primarily funded by the public, much of the traditional “closed” system research is locked behind financial barriers, legal constraints, or paywalls, limiting its accessibility. Open Access publishing addresses these challenges by leveraging digital technologies, shared infrastructure, and open licensing, providing unrestricted access to academic work. [2]This model focuses on making research super easy for everyone to get their hands on, so more people can share and make use of academic knowledge!

Open Access (OA) is about free access

This information will explore the distinction between green/ gold distinction OA and gratis and libre OA, focusing on how these terms relate to user rights and freedoms when accessing OA content.

The OA movement uses the term gold for OA content delivered by journals, where the content is free to read, and green for OA content delivered for free by repositories.[3]

Gold and green OA require different steps from authors. To make new articles gold OA, authors simply submit their manuscripts to OA journals, as they would to conventional journals. To make articles green OA, authors simply deposit their manuscripts in an OA repository.[4] With green OA, there is usually no additional cost to deposit the article in a repository, while gold OA typically requires an APC to publish in the open access journal.

Gold 


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Green

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While every kind of OA removes price barriers for the reader, there are many different permission barriers we could remove if we wanted to. If we remove price barriers alone, we provide gratis OA., and if we remove at least some permission barriers as well, we provide libre OA.[5]

  • Gratis content is free to access but may have limitations on reuse or modification.
  • Libre: Content is free to access and also free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. Reuse, modification, and redistribution permissions will be listed under a specified license (often a Creative Commons license).

Note that the gratis/libre distinction is not the same as the green/gold distinction. The gratis/libre distinction is about user rights or freedoms, while the green/ gold distinction is about venues or vehicles. Gratis/libre answers the question, how open is it? Green/gold answers the question, how is it delivered?[6]

Test your knowledge by answering  the 4 multiple-choice questions below

 

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  1. Suber, P. (2012). Open access. The MIT Press. p.9. https://direct.mit.edu/books/book/3754/Open-Access CC BY ↵
  2. Creative Commons Team (2020). Creative Commons for Educators and Librarians. Chicago, IL: ALA Editions CC BY 4.0 ↵
  3. Suber, P. (2012). Open Access. MIT Press p 53. https://direct.mit.edu/books/book/3754/Open-Access CC BY ↵
  4. Suber, P. (2012). Open Access. MIT Press p 54. https://direct.mit.edu/books/book/3754/Open-Access CC BY ↵
  5. Suber, P. (2012). Open Access. MIT Press p 6. https://direct.mit.edu/books/book/3754/Open-Access CC BY ↵
  6. Suber, P. (2012). Open Access. MIT Press p 67. https://direct.mit.edu/books/book/3754/Open-Access CC BY ↵

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