How Open Is It? A Guide to Understanding the Core Components of Open Access

Hat tip to Legal Research Plus for calling attention to the SPARC (Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition), PLOS (Public Library of Science) and OASPA (Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association) production of its 2-page checklist guide, How Open Is It? Open Access Spectrum — OAS: A Guide to Understanding the Core Components of OA. The guide  was prepared for this year's Open Access Week: Set the Default to Open Access (October 22-28, 2012). See SPARC's press release for download links to the Guide, FAQ and PowerPoint.

From the Guide

How To Use This Guide:

In 2002, the Budapest Open Access Initiative articulated the basic tenets of Open Access for the first time. Since then, thousands of journals have adopted policies that embrace some or all of the Open Access core components related to: readership, reuse,copyright, posting, and machine readability. However, not all Open Access is created equal. For example, a policy that allows anyone to read an article for free six months after its publication is more open than a policy that creates a twelve month embargo; it is also less open than a policy that allows for free reading immediately upon publication.

This guide will help you move beyond the seemingly simple question, “Is this journal open access?” and toward a more productive alternative, “How Open Is It?”

Use it to:

• Understand the components that define Open Access journals
• Learn what makes a journal more open vs. less open
• Make informed decisions about where to publish

[JH]