Open acess
is free, immediate, permanent, full‐text, online access, for any user,
web‐wide, to digital scientific research and scholarly material.It will be in
the best interest of everyone to read more on Open access Open Access in order to
familiarize with the concept.Many countries of the world have signed the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to
Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities. IFLA adheres to the definition of
open access used in the Berlin Declaration and will use it in public
communication and contacts with various organizations (IFLA, 2011).The attached
statement guided the participating countries in terms of compliance IFLAstatement on OA .
South
Africa issued a Statement on Open Access to Research Publications funded from
the National Research Foundation (NRF) that
From 01 March 2015, authors of research papers generated from research
either fully or partially funded by NRF, when submitting and publishing in
academic journals, should deposit their final peer-reviewed manuscripts that
have been accepted by the journals, to the administering Institution Repository
with an embargo period of no more than 12 months.This action has resulted in
allowing more researchers and students
from around the world to gain increased access to knowledge, publications
receive greater visibility and readership, and the potential impact of research
is heightened. Increased access to, and sharing of knowledge leads to
opportunities for equitable economic and social development, intercultural
dialogue, and has the potential to spark innovation.
The
benefits of open access
There are
significant gains to making research and research results available without
financial, legal and technical barriers to access. Researchers benefit from
increased visibility, usage and impact for their work. Open access helps to
publicise institutions' research strengths. For publishers, open access brings
maximum visibility, increased readership and impact for the contents; it means
that a greatly improved dissemination service is being provided for research.
Open access enhances the flow of knowledge between North and South and also
between South and South.The four minutes embedded video will share an exciting
story on open access.
