There are a number of reasons why you might choose to make the full text of your research open access which include the following.
- Reform the economics of scholarly publishing. For scholars and libraries, scholarly publishing is expensive both financially and in terms of time. Personal subscriptions to a single scholarly journal can be in the hundreds while library subscriptions can reach into the thousands. Conversely, it is often the case that the authors and peer reviewers dedicated to advancing knowledge do not receive a cent, yet must themselves pay to access scholarly articles. Open access recognizes this irony and seeks to reduce the burdens placed on scholars.
- Respect author and creator copyrights. Sometimes in the process of publishing one's work, scholars inadvertently give up their copyrights to their publishers. As a consequence, scholars may need to request permission from their publishers before they can share and publish their work elsewhere. Open access seeks to educate scholars about their copyrights and respects their decisions to share or restrict their research as they see fit.
- Reach a wider audience. For all the time and hard work scholars invest in their research, it can be difficult for others to both discover and access this research. Open access seeks to make scholarly work more visible and accessible to more people. For scholars this could result in higher citation statistics, and for University alumni and the general public unaffiliated with an academic institution, this means having the ability to access scholarly works without having to pay a fee.
- Promote democratic access to information. Access to information inevitably favors those able to pay for access. Open access seeks to remove some of the financial barriers to information.
