Answers to frequently asked questions about Open Access
What is the Berlin Declaration?
The Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities from 22 October 2003 is the central international statement defining the concept of Open Access. The declaration has been signed by more than 350 research institutions etc., including Harvard University, UCLA, the Smithsonian Institution, Copenhagen Business School, Roskilde University and the Danish Council for Independent Research.
What is Green Open Access?
Green Open Access means that peer-reviewed research articles are published in a digital archive – a repository – with free access to anyone who is interested. This type of publication will occur concurrently with the publication in the relevant scientific journal – possibly after a given waiting period, during which the article will exclusively be available in the scientific journal.
What is Golden Open Access?
Golden Open Access is a model whereby the scientific journals charge a one-off amount to publish a peer-reviewed article, so that users have free access to the article. At present the implementation of this model would entail an increase in the State’s aggregate costs, when compared with the existing publication model, as the publishers charge for Open Access publishing of the individual article, while the research institutions pay license fees to the publishers which have not yet become full-fledged Open Access journals, in order to subscribe to those same journals.
How does society benefit from Open Access?
The implementation of Open Access will help to make the public investments in research and development more efficient, improving the possibilities for researchers, research environments and private enterprises to increase their innovation and contribution to socioeconomic growth by ensuring a wider application of research results. Thus, Open Access will:
- Ensure a better sharing of knowledge through easier access for all users, including small and medium-sized enterprises, to publicly financed research results;
- Make researchers and research institutions more visible;
- Create better conditions for cross-disciplinary research.
Is the state going to be in charge of the publication of scientific articles?
Implementing Open Access in Denmark does not mean that the state is going to take over the private publishers’ valuable contribution to the dissemination of scientific knowledge. That would be detrimental to the entire system of quality assessment and scientific merits. On the contrary, it is with the help of this central part of the publishing chain that the implementation of Open Access at universities and research-financed institutions can ensure that the quality-assured scientific knowledge will be disseminated as widely as possible.
Will Open Access have a negative effect on quality assurance?
A correct implementation of Open Access will not compromise on the quality assurance of research results. Open Access does not change the peer-review process – the publishers’ quality assurance hinges on a necessary critical review of the research results, which ensures the legitimacy of scientific research. Therefore the scientific journals will continue to play a decisive role in relation to research publication.
In fact, the implementation of Open Access may help to strengthen the existing quality assurance, due to the wider audience that it provides, while the possibilities of plagiarism are reduced, due to the improved access to the original research publications.
Will Open Access make scientific publications searchable via search engines?
Yes.
Will Open Access publishing lead to more citations?
There is no clear answer to this question. Initial surveys showed a clear tendency of an increase in the number of citations. However, later studies draw a more nuanced picture, where the results – due to more stringent methods of analysis – seem less unequivocal. Still, an analysis from 2008 carried out by Philip M. Davies et al. shows that Open Access publishing leads to a higher number of unique visitors and full-text downloads. Thus, Open Access publishing entails that the publications reach a wider audience, although this does not necessarily result in a higher number of citations. On the basis of this, we may assume that the wider readership is primarily to be found outside the traditional research environments – e.g. among employees in private enterprises, researchers from outside the established research environments and from developing countries, general practitioners, lawyers, upper secondary school teachers, politicians, journalists, etc.
What is postprint?
An article which has been accepted for publication, i.e. after peer-review and the author’s subsequent amendments and additions. A postprint version of an article is also referred to as the ‘accepted version’ or ‘accepted draft’, etc. In other words, a postprint is identical with the finished publication in terms of content, although it may deviate in terms of typography and layout.
What is preprint?
An article which has not yet been accepted for publication or which awaits peer-review. Thus, it is the author’s version prior to the peer-review process, which provides the most important input for the researcher in relation to making amendments and additions. Preprint is also referred to as ‘submitted version’, ‘pre-refereed draft’, etc.
What is a repository?
In connection with Open Access, a repository is a database which ensures permanent, free electronic access to research publications and appurtenant materials.
How do I find a repository?
All universities in Denmark have their own repositories, which are currently used for entering data for the bibliometric research indicator. In addition, you can search the Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR) for specific institutional or subject-based repositories.
Where can I get an overview of Open Access journals?
You can search the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) for Open Access journals. The database will list hybrid journals as well as journals which are exclusively Open Access journals.
Why are there varying waiting periods in connection with Open Access publishing?
The reason why the waiting periods – during which an article is exclusively available through the scientific journal publishing it – vary, is that the period during which research results are to be considered newly published, and thus deemed to have a higher economical value, differs depending on the scientific subject. Thus, the period for which research results within Information and Communication Technology have status as newly published results is shorter than in the Humanities or the Social Sciences, which is why the Open Access publication of ICT articles has a shorter waiting period.