What is Open Access Research
Open Access logo CC BY-SA 3.0 via Public Library of Science (PLoS).
Open access is the movement to make scholarly endeavors available to the public without financial and licensing barriers. Because the publication model is still growing, more and more institutions have joined in making research open and available. Many universities, agencies throughout the world, and even some major research funders and foundations have valuable data available. After the data is published, it is stored in online repositories that can be accessed by researchers.
Opening the Door to Open Research
OpenDOAR, or the Directory of Open Access Repositories, lists open access repositories from around the world in a single, central location. Researchers search across across many repositories by location and type of repository, author, and by materials and can then access all of the research inside.
Open Access at PSU
PDXScholar, PSU Library’s online repository, contains many open access textbooks, theses, dissertations, and faculty and student research. Portland State students, faculty, alumni, and researchers have downloaded nearly 1.8 million items from PDXScholar since July 2013. The Open Social Work research guide, designed by a PSU Librarian, connects alumni and practicing social workers in Oregon with social work research. Finally, Our A-Z research database list also indicates whether a database is open access. Resources with the open access logo, an unlocked padlock (
) will then know that the information they are using is fully open.
Learn more about open access initiatives, like our open textbooks that are free to students, when you visit the PSU Library’s website. Our open access and public access page will connect you to open access resources, as well as information about current projects.
More information:
Open Access & Public Access
About PDXScholar
A-Z list of databases at PSU Library