Beta Version
DULS Guide to
📚 🔓 Open Access & Licensing
Empowering Knowledge Sharing: From Open Access to Creative Commons
🌍 Understanding Open Access & Licensing
Open Access (OA) represents a transformative approach to scholarly communication, making research outputs freely available to anyone with an internet connection. This movement challenges traditional publishing models by removing financial, legal, and technical barriers to accessing knowledge, accelerating scientific discovery and democratizing information worldwide.
🎯 Core Principles of Open Access
- Free Availability: No subscription fees or paywalls blocking access to research
- Immediate Access: Research available upon publication without embargo periods
- Reuse Rights: Clear licensing terms allowing sharing and building upon work
- Author Rights: Researchers retain copyright rather than transferring to publishers
- Machine Readability: Content accessible to computational analysis and text mining
- Long-term Preservation: Permanent archiving ensuring future accessibility
📊 The Open Access Landscape in 2024-2025
The open access movement has reached unprecedented momentum:
- 52% of articles: Published as open access globally (up from 31% in 2019)
- Plan S compliance: Major funders requiring immediate open access
- Transformative agreements: Libraries negotiating read-and-publish deals
- Diamond OA growth: Community-driven publishing without author fees
- Preprint adoption: 500,000+ preprints posted annually across disciplines
- UNESCO Recommendation: Global framework for open science implementation
🔓 Why Open Access Matters
📚 For Researchers
- Increased citations and visibility
- Broader research impact
- Faster scientific progress
- Interdisciplinary collaboration
- Public engagement opportunities
- Compliance with funder mandates
🏛️ For Institutions
- Reduced subscription costs
- Enhanced institutional visibility
- Research assessment benefits
- Knowledge transfer facilitation
- Community engagement
- Global research partnerships
🌍 For Society
- Democratic access to knowledge
- Evidence-based policymaking
- Educational equity
- Innovation acceleration
- Public health benefits
- Global development support
📚 The Open Access Movement: History & Evolution
The Open Access movement emerged from the convergence of technological possibilities and philosophical imperatives, fundamentally transforming how knowledge is shared globally.
🌐 Birth of arXiv
Paul Ginsparg launches arXiv.org at Los Alamos National Laboratory, creating the first preprint server for physics.
📜 Budapest Open Access Initiative
The foundational declaration defining open access and establishing key strategies.
🔬 Berlin Declaration
Max Planck Society leads European institutions in committing to open access.
🚀 Plan S Launch
Coalition S announces Plan S, requiring immediate open access for funded research.
🌍 UNESCO Recommendation
193 countries adopt UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science.
📖 Open Access Publishing Models
Open access publishing encompasses diverse models and routes, each with distinct characteristics and benefits.
🥇 Gold Open Access
Immediate open access from publisher
- Access: Free immediately upon publication
- Copyright: Usually retained by authors
- Costs: Often Article Processing Charges (APCs)
- Examples: PLOS ONE, BMC journals
🥈 Green Open Access
Self-archiving in repositories
- Access: Via institutional/subject repositories
- Version: Usually author's accepted manuscript
- Embargo: Often 6-24 months delay
- Examples: arXiv, PubMed Central
💎 Diamond/Platinum OA
No fees for authors or readers
- Funding: Institutional/society support
- Prevalence: 73% of OA journals
- Regions: Strong in Latin America, Europe
- Examples: SciELO network, society journals
🎓 Open Educational Resources (OER)
Open Educational Resources are teaching, learning, and research materials intentionally created and licensed to be freely used, adapted, and redistributed.
📚 The 5 Rs of OER
- Retain: Make, own, and control copies of the content
- Reuse: Use the content in a wide range of ways
- Revise: Adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content
- Remix: Combine original or revised content with other OER
- Redistribute: Share copies of original, revised, or remixed content
📚 Open Textbooks
- OpenStax: 60+ peer-reviewed textbooks
- LibreTexts: 400+ open textbooks
- BCcampus: 320+ open textbooks
- Savings: Average $100-300 per student
🎥 Open Courseware
- MIT OpenCourseWare: 2,400+ courses
- Khan Academy: 10,000+ video lessons
- Coursera: 1,000+ free courses
- edX: 3,500+ courses
⚖️ Introduction to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
Intellectual Property Rights are legal rights that protect creations of the mind, giving creators exclusive rights to use their creations for a certain period.
🔍 Types of Intellectual Property
- Copyright: Protects original works of authorship
- Patents: Protects inventions and discoveries
- Trademarks: Protects brands, logos, and slogans
- Trade Secrets: Protects confidential business information
✅ What Copyright Protects
- Literary works
- Musical compositions
- Software code
- Artistic works
❌ What Copyright Doesn't Protect
- Ideas or concepts
- Facts and data
- Titles or short phrases
- Government works
🔖 Creative Commons Licenses
Creative Commons licenses provide a standardized way to grant copyright permissions to creative work.
🎯 Core License Elements
- BY (Attribution): Credit must be given to the creator
- SA (ShareAlike): Derivatives must use the same license
- NC (NonCommercial): Only non-commercial uses permitted
- ND (NoDerivatives): No derivatives or adaptations allowed
CC BY
Attribution
Most permissive license. Others can distribute, remix, and build upon work.
CC BY-SA
Attribution-ShareAlike
Others can remix but must license derivatives under identical terms.
CC BY-NC
Attribution-NonCommercial
Others can remix non-commercially.
CC BY-NC-SA
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Non-commercial remix with same license.
CC BY-ND
Attribution-NoDerivatives
Redistribution allowed but no changes.
CC BY-NC-ND
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
Most restrictive CC license.
🛠️ Open Access Tools & Resources
Essential tools, platforms, and resources for navigating the open access landscape.
🔍 Discovery Tools
Find open access content
📚 Publishing Platforms
OA publishing solutions
🔖 Licensing Tools
Copyright and CC tools
🎓 OER Platforms
Educational resource tools