Advantages & Disadvantages of ‘Open Access’

Advantages

1. Visibility

• More  people  are  likely  to  see  it  when  articles  are  published  in  an  Open  Access  account

• A  study  showed  the  proven  statistics  of  more  readers  on  OA  accounts  compared  to  subscription  accounts  (See  next  slide)

2.Greater Opportunity for research ideas interchanged and developed

Advantages

• With  open  access,  people  can  read  and  build  on  the  =indings  of  others  without  restrictions.

3.Improved Education

Advantages

• With  the  use  of  Open  Education  Resources  (OER),  students  can  improve  their  research  =indings  for  projects,  assignments  and  individual  learning.  

3. Improved Education

Advantages

• OER  exist  for  all  levels  of  education,  from  kindergarten  through  college;  [1]  thus,  it  allows  educational  institutions  to  improve  the  quality  of  learning  materials,  which  enhance  students’  learning.

• Additionally,  with  free  access  to  many  educational  resources,  it  lessens  the  school’s  overall  expenditure,  which  brings  down  the  cost  of  education  for  students.    

4.Access for researches in developing countries

Advantages

• Open  Access  helps  these  researchers  to  have  the  opportunity  to  participate  in  the  international  research  community.  

• A  common  problem  faced  by  researches  in  developing  countries  is  the  lack  of  access  to  subscription-­‐based  journals

1.Publication Fees

Disadvantages

1.   The  author  has  the  responsibility  to  pay  for  the  costs  of  publication,  and  in  times  of  austerity  and  funding  cuts,  this  can  discourage  researches  from  going  open-­‐access

2.Lack of Quality Control

Disadvantages

Regarding  less  reputable  publishers,  open  access  models  may  incentivise  journals  to  publish  more  articles.  

Thus,  this  drives  publishers  to  publish  more  articles  to  cover  their  cost,  hence  reducing  overall  quality.  

3. Sustainability

Disadvantages

• Some  argue  that  traditional  paid  access  models  ensure  publishers  are  adequately  compensated  for  substantial  role  they  play  

Will  Open  access  models  sustainably  support  the  research  publication  infrastructure  in  the  long  term?

3. Sustainability

Disadvantages

This outlook is likely to see the end of the ‘free for all’ online culture with two thirds of media companies expecting fees to be introduced for most of the content available online. - Stephen Lepitak