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Research Guides

Open Access Publishing

What Is Open Access?

"If you have an apple and I have an apple, and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea, and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas." - George Bernard Shaw

Open Access is a method of publishing works of scholarship, creativity and culture that removes cost for the reader and reduces copyright barriers to allow legitimate sharing and reusing of the work.  Using readily available digital technologies and the Internet, authors and creators can produce, publish, and provide access to their new works more directly, quickly and efficiently. Open access resources are generally free to use, and are available to be downloaded, copied, and distributed without concerns for violating copyright.