Academic libraries routinely struggle to afford access to expensive journals, and patrons may not be able to obtain every scholarly paper they need. Is Open Access (OA) the answer?

This book brings together many of the worlds leading open access experts to provide an analysis of the key strategic, technical and economic aspects on the topic of open access. Open access to research papers is perhaps a defining debate for publishers, librarians, university managers and many researchers within the international academic community. Starting with a description of the current situation and its shortcomings, this book then defines the varieties of open access and addresses some of the many misunderstandings to which the term sometimes gives rise. There are chapters on the technologies involved, researchers, perspectives, and the business models of key players. These issues are then illustrated in a series of case studies from around the world, including the USA, UK, Netherlands, Australia and India. Open access is a far-reaching shift in scholarly communication, and the book concludes by going beyond todays debate and looking at the kind of research world that would be possible with open access to research outputs. - Chapters by leading experts in the field, including Professor Jean-Claude Gu餯n, Clifford Lynch, Stevan Harnad, Peter Suber, Charles Bailey, Jr., Alma Swan, Fred Friend, John Shipp and Leo Waaijers - Discussion of open access from a wide range of perspectives - Country case studies, summarising open access in the USA, UK Netherlands, Australia and India

UNESCO issued this publication to demystify the concept of open access (OA) and to provide concrete steps on putting relevant policies in place. Its focus is on scientific research from peer-reviewed journal articles. Building capacities in Member States for Open Access is a necessary but not sufficient condition for promotion of the concept. Creating an enabling policy environment for OA is therefore a priority. This publication will serve the needs of OA policy development at the government, institutional and funding agency level. The overall objective of the Policy Guidelines is to promote Open Access in Member States by facilitating understanding of all relevant issues related to Open Access. The guidelines are not prescriptive in nature, but are suggestive to facilitate knowledge-based decision-making to adopt OA policies and strengthen national research systems.

Open access publishing can be used as a strategic tool to avail access to information and achieve universal literacy. Open access has gained importance over the past 15 years by making knowledge available to all, without any barrier of affordability or restrictions on using this knowledge to inform and develop. Open access contributes to scientific research excellence, disseminates research results to a wider community, and promotes multi-disciplinary and collaborative research. Issues of sustainable development and open access are major concerns in librarianship and information management, particularly as the international library and information management community is focusing on how to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. Open Access Implications for Sustainable Social, Political, and Economic Development is a pivotal reference source that provides an understanding of the concept of open access within the context of social, political, and economic development and deliberates the critical issues and challenges that face the implementation of open access and its impact on the global economy and sustainable development. While highlighting a broad range of topics including digital scholarship, open data, and ethics, this book is ideally designed for librarians, information science professionals, government officials, policymakers, academicians, researchers, and students.

It is impossible to imagine the future of academic libraries without an extensive consideration of open access—the removal of price and permission barriers from scholarly research online. As textbook and journal subscription prices continue to rise, improvements in technology make online dissemination of scholarship less expensive, and faculty recognize the practical and philosophical appeal of making their work available to wider audiences. As a consequences, libraries have begun to consider a wide variety of open access “flavors” and business models. These new possibilities have significant impact on both library services and collection policies, and the call for new skills within library staffing. Volume 9 of the series Creating the 21st-Century Academic Library is the first of two addressing the topic of open access in academic libraries and focuses on policy and infrastructure for libraries that wish to provide leadership on their campus in the transition to more open forms of scholarship. Chapters in the book discuss how to make the case for open access on campus, as well as the political and policy implications of libraries that themselves want to become publishing entities. Infrastructure issues are also addressed including metadata standards and research management services. Also considered here is how interlibrary loan, preservation and the library’s role in providing textbooks, support the concept of open access. It is hoped that this volume, and the series in general, will be a valuable and exciting addition to the discussions and planning surrounding the future directions, services, and careers in the 21st-century academic library.

This symposium, which was held on March 10-11, 2003, at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, brought together policy experts and managers from the government and academic sectors in both developed and developing countries to (1) describe the role, value, and limits that the public domain and open access to digital data and information have in the context of international research; (2) identify and analyze the various legal, economic, and technological pressures on the public domain in digital data and information, and their potential effects on international research; and (3) review the existing and proposed approaches for preserving and promoting the public domain and open access to scientific and technical data and information on a global basis, with particular attention to the needs of developing countries.

This book addresses the recent debate about copyright law and its impact on the distribution of scientific knowledge from an economic perspective. The focus is on the question whether a copyright regime or an open access regime is better suited to the norms and organizational structure in a purely global science community. The book undertakes a thorough economic analysis of the academic journal market and showcases consequences of a regime change. It also takes account of the Digital Divide debate, reflecting issues in developing countries. Finally, a comprehensive analysis of legal action in the light of international Intellectual Property (IP) agreements offers prospects on the future of academic publishing.