Open access (OA) is the practice of providing unrestricted access via the Internet to peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles. In the OA publication model, the publication cost should be covered by the author’s institution or research fund.
The basic features of OA include:
1. Authors and copyrighter allow users to free access to copy and disseminate their digital information, provided that their copyright should be respected.
2. The full manuscripts should be stored in one or more reliable network server, in order to ensure long-term free, unrestricted communication and database storage.
The advantages of OA include:
1. OA removes the restraints of price and using conditions and makes research results more readily available.
2. The OA model can enlarge the readership, expand the scope of knowledge sharing and promoting the scientific research. An OA article can be read by anyone——a professional in the field, a researcher in another field, a journalist, a politician, civil servant, or an interested hobbyist.
3. It has been demonstrated that OA articles receive higher citation impact.