Open Access (OA) describes access to scholarly literature on the internet:
free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself. The only constraint on reproduction and distribution, and the only role for copyright in this domain, should be to give authors control over the integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited. Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI)
Video: Open Access Explained by Piled Higher and Deeper (PHD Comics)
Which CC licence?
Two licences meet the requirement for open access as defined by the BOAI.
SPARC and PLOS have created a useful spectrum- HowOpenIsIt?– for evaluating open-ness based on reuse rights. The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) identifies peer reviewed journals that meet the criteria for open based on the journal licence.
is a statement of principles for open access to Australia’s research. Research outputs should be
- Findable
- accessible
- inter-operable
- re-usable
Creative Commons Australia supports the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable & Reusable) principles for improving the accessibility and impact of Australian research outputs.
Creative Commons (CC) licences provide a simple mechanism to ensure that users of research have the rights they need to reuse, replicate, and apply research outputs and data.
The four FAIR characteristics were originally identified as qualities for open research data. The Australian National Data Service (ANDS) has developed FAIR data training resources.
Talking about CC licences and open access to research
These info-graphics are free to share and re-use:
Creative Commons Australia is affiliated with the Australasian Open Access Strategy Group (AOASG), which advocates for open access to scholarly outputs. There are many useful resources on the AOASG website including What is Open Access? OA in Australasia