Topic 5- Open Access: Pros and Cons
What exactly is “open access”? The video below will explain this all in a nutshell.
As mentioned in the video above, open access has aims to allow anyone access to the information they need whether or not they are associated with a university/college. The breaking of these barriers are efficient in encouraging innovation and helps immensely with education. I, being a university student for instance can benefit from the free expense of open access materials. This allows me to keep more money in my pockets and have no limits regarding the materials I need. However this may not necessarily translate as the best thing for an author and the free materials they offer.
When content producers make their materials freely available online, this means the end user doesn’t have to pay to read an open access article. The author on the other hand has the responsibility of paying for the costs of publication. And as you can imagine, in times of funding cuts, this can hugely discourage researchers from going open access. However, yet again this free access means an authorās work can reach a much larger audience, being more widely read and reachable to readers. This can convert into an increased number of citations for the author.
As you can therefore imagine, universities (and organisations) must save millions of pounds, allowing them to allocate money elsewhere for the benefit of students. Most of all, this open access means students can potentiallyĀ benefitĀ in their academics by producing quality research when using open access materials. HoweverĀ poor quality publications are deemed to be a major disadvantage of open access, where according to critics, such publications face less selection and less peer review by students. This is terribleĀ for authors who pay to publish material, only for it to receive little to no appreciation or feedback. Nonetheless there are some overall social advantages of open access, such as information forĀ development and innovation. For instanceĀ open access to information for nurses or those studying nursing can increase their knowledge and motivation and contribute to better care.
Overall, though it is evident that there are some negative effects of open access, there does seem to be more benefits in my opinion. One benefit that particularly stood out to me was theĀ economic advantages:
“In England, the Open Access Implementation Group has determined that the public sector has already saved Ā£28.6 million by open access, and that each 5% increase in open access publications will save the public sector an additional Ā£ 1.7 million”. (Olijhoek, 2012)
This goes to show how beneficial open access is,Ā not only for a university student like me, but for society and the economy. Thanks for reading!
References
Adam Geib. (2013) |Ā Advantages and Disadvantages of Open Access |Ā Available at: http://www.edanzediting.com/blog/advantages_and_disadvantages_open_access#.VRsI-_nF9bX. [Accessed 31 March 2015]
Benefits of Open Access for Authors | Open Science. 2015.Ā Benefits of Open Access for Authors | Open Science. [ONLINE] Available at: http://openscience.com/benefits-of-open-access-for-authors/. [Accessed 31 March 2015].
Open Access – YouTube. 2015.Ā Open Access – YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at:Ā http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B579LlMi0Q4. [Accessed 31 March 2015]
Open Access: Not just a matter for scientists | Open Access Working Group . 2015. Open Access: Not just a matter for scientists | Open Access Working Group . [ONLINE] Available at: http://access.okfn.org/2012/05/17/open-access-not-just-a-matter-for-scientists/. [Accessed 29 April 2015].
