Data Pub | Three Cheers for Open Access!

"If you weren’t aware, this week is Open Access Week.  The word open gets used quite a bit these days… like open notebooks, open science, open source, open content, open access, open data, open government, open repositories, and open knowledge. If you are not sure what all the hoopla is about, read on. Note: I will talk about “Open Stuff” for the next couple of blog posts, so stay tuned. Let’s start with the honorary “Open” for the week: open access.  This phrase is used to describe 'content' ... Open access content has three basic characteristics: [1] Digital [2] Free [3] Online  That means there are no price or permission barriers, the full content is available, and it is made available immediately.  Although Open Access content can be anything that fitst the criteria above, the phrase is most frequently used to describe academic journals.  It might surprise some to learn that Open Access as a way of publishing is compatible with copyright, peer review, revenue, quality, indexing, and prestige.  If the journal is open access, there may be little or none of the following: printing, price negotiations for institutional subscriptions, site licenses, user authentication, access blocking..."