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An Overview Of Open Access Movement

Not only does the shift from print to digital has significant ramifications for how we obtain information, but it also has significant implications for how we utilize it. The potential for discovering new methods to apply collected scientific knowledge is virtually limitless, and it has only just begun to be explored.

Author:Suleman Shah
Reviewer:Han Ju
Jul 17, 20234.4K Shares244.5K Views
Among humanity's greatest inventions is scientific literature, which is the recorded historyof sciencein books and other published materials. It is impossible to overstate the importance of the collection of ideas, methods, data, and discoveries-about our bodies and the bodies of all other animals in the world around us, especially regarding human diseases over the last several centuries in the development of society.
There are significant consequences for both how we acquire information and how we utilize it due to the shift that has occurred in the previous ten years, from a world in which we mainly communicate through print to one in which we communicate primarily via digital mediums. The potential for discovering new applications for collected scientific knowledge is virtually limitless, and it has only recently begun to be fully realized.

What Is The Open Access Movement?

The goal of the open-access movement is to tear down the old scholarly publishing sector and replace it with volunteerism and server space supported by university libraries and other nonprofit organisations. Even though the open access movementhas been in existence for more than a decade, Three ambitious proclamations were issued in the early 2000s following summits held in Berlin, Bethesda, and Budapest, which set the stage for the rest of the decade. It has evolved into more of an institution than a social movement with time, and the declarations have come to function as a substitute for critical thinking.
The movement employs argumentum ad populum, emphasising solely the benefits of allowing open access to research while omitting to mention any disadvantages (predatory publishers, fees charged to authors, and low-quality articles). A researcher's collective is the spirit of the movement, which focuses on freely exchanging knowledge through the internet and other technological means.Not only does the shift from print to digital has significant ramifications for how we obtain information, but it also has significant implications for how we utilise it. The potential for discovering new methods to apply collected scientific knowledge is virtually limitless, and it has only just begun to be explored.

History Of Open Access Movement

  • At the close of the twentieth century, university librarians all over the globe found themselves amid a significant dilemma that has come to be known as the "serials crisis." The serials crisis resulted from subscription costs for publications rising much faster than inflation for years, to the point where libraries (including Harvard!) did not have enough money to subscribe to all of the publications they desired and were forced to make difficult decisions between journals.
  • The internet started to come into its own. Suddenly, anybody with the internet could publish content and distribute it to the general public for pennies on the dollar, thanks to the World Wide Web(www). The Free Software Movement demonstrated the full potential of freely sharing knowledge on the internet, and several organisations began to put two and two together as a result.
  • For starters, there were internet archives such as arXiv.org, which encouraged scientists to self-archive their pre-publication works in an online depository before publishing them. It wasn't long after that that free online-distribution journals such as the Journal of Medical Internet Research began appearing. In 2000, the National Institutes of Health(NIH) launched PubMed Central. This open access depository has expanded to include about 6 million articles today and BioMed Central, an open access publishing platform. The government's assistance gave the movement a fresh lease on life. It was in 2002 and 2003 that members of the academic community came together to draft the Budapest Open Access Initiative, which fleshed out the formal definition of open access and served as calls to action, garnering a combined total of nearly 500 institutional signatures, and the Berlin Declaration on Open Access, which served as a call to action. In addition, the Public Library of Science was established in 2003, which currently publishes some of the most competitive open access publications available.
  • Cooperation has come in from all directions, including academics, institutions, funding agencies, businesses, and even government offices and departments. The Wellcome Trust began requiring that grant winners deposit a copy of their publications with PubMed Central in 2005, and this practice has continued to this day. There are two complementary paths in the fight for open access today: the gold road, which involves convincing publishers to adopt open-access policies, and the green route, which encourages researchers to self-archive their work in institutional repositories. The gold journey is a long-term strategy that will take years to complete.

Benefits Of Open Access

  • It becomes feasible to develop research methodologies that are significantly more powerful. Using data analytics, computer processing has the ability to uncover interesting trends that may be used to inform business decisions. More data available for study as a result of open access means more opportunities for really groundbreaking discoveries to be made.
  • When people see research, they are more likely to support it. The results of the study, which their tax money have funded, are rarely visible to the general people. They would be able to do so if they had open access.
  • Researchers will be able to access more research at a reduced cost while also gaining greater reputation in the process. When researchers have access to a larger pool of already conducted research at a lower cost, the research process is expedited. Researchers will receive more citations for their work and greater recognition as a result of a larger audience, which, in contrast to the existing publishing system, might really have an influence on the income received by researchers.
  • Funders (including the United States government) receive better value for their money.For funders, the return on investment increases when research is made available to the broadest possible audience—because the study has a broader reach and a greater likelihood of having a greater impact. The number of those who contribute increases.
As long as a thorough procedure of peer reviewis in place, almost anybody may make a significant addition to the world's pool of scientific knowledge if their contribution is of sufficient quality.
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Suleman Shah

Suleman Shah

Author
Suleman Shah is a researcher and freelance writer. As a researcher, he has worked with MNS University of Agriculture, Multan (Pakistan) and Texas A & M University (USA). He regularly writes science articles and blogs for science news website immersse.com and open access publishers OA Publishing London and Scientific Times. He loves to keep himself updated on scientific developments and convert these developments into everyday language to update the readers about the developments in the scientific era. His primary research focus is Plant sciences, and he contributed to this field by publishing his research in scientific journals and presenting his work at many Conferences. Shah graduated from the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (Pakistan) and started his professional carrier with Jaffer Agro Services and later with the Agriculture Department of the Government of Pakistan. His research interest compelled and attracted him to proceed with his carrier in Plant sciences research. So, he started his Ph.D. in Soil Science at MNS University of Agriculture Multan (Pakistan). Later, he started working as a visiting scholar with Texas A&M University (USA). Shah’s experience with big Open Excess publishers like Springers, Frontiers, MDPI, etc., testified to his belief in Open Access as a barrier-removing mechanism between researchers and the readers of their research. Shah believes that Open Access is revolutionizing the publication process and benefitting research in all fields.
Han Ju

Han Ju

Reviewer
Hello! I'm Han Ju, the heart behind World Wide Journals. My life is a unique tapestry woven from the threads of news, spirituality, and science, enriched by melodies from my guitar. Raised amidst tales of the ancient and the arcane, I developed a keen eye for the stories that truly matter. Through my work, I seek to bridge the seen with the unseen, marrying the rigor of science with the depth of spirituality. Each article at World Wide Journals is a piece of this ongoing quest, blending analysis with personal reflection. Whether exploring quantum frontiers or strumming chords under the stars, my aim is to inspire and provoke thought, inviting you into a world where every discovery is a note in the grand symphony of existence. Welcome aboard this journey of insight and exploration, where curiosity leads and music guides.
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