What are Open Access Resources?

Open Access (OA) resources are scholarly resources that have been made freely available online by an author, publisher or University.  The resources are generally freely available under a specific licence, with no subscription or access fees.  OA resources include journals, journal articles, books, book chapters, databases, subject repositories, preprint servers, Open Educational Resources (OER), software, datasets and other formats. OA resources are a product of OA publishing; you can read about the history of the Open Access movement and its current role in academia in the Research and Scholarly Communications Library Guide. 

For a quick overview of the topic, watch the video below.

Open Access Explained by PHD Comics is available under a Creative Commons Licence

Are OA resources of high enough quality to use for my University Assignments?  

Yes! OA publications are quality checked as part of the publication process, and reputable publishers must ensure they meet strict quality standards for publishing. OA books and journal articles are often peer reviewed and meet the same publishing standards as non-OA content. Of course, it is important to be aware of who is publishing the material you are reading and to use your judgment to determine the level of quality. If you are unsure, then refer to our Study Skills Guide to help you critically evaluate the information sources that you want to use for your assignments.

What about copyright?

Most OA content is made available with a Creative Commons Licence.  Usually, these licences enable the reader to share, distribute and tweak the original content as long as the correct attribution is given to the creator of the work. There are various types of CC Licences available, so you should treat every article or book individually and check the licence under which it has been released.  As always,  it is still important to reference the original source. You can find out more about CC Licences in our Copyright Guide.