Open Educational Resources: Open Access

Open Access is not the same as OER. Open Access materials are still under traditional copyright. They cannot be copied, shared, or remixed. The thing that makes them distinctive is that, unlike traditional journal articles, you can read them on the web without having a subscription or paying for a download. This is important for the free flow of scholarly communication and the sustainability of libraries; however it doesn't allow you to embed the content in your course. You can still only link to Open Access articles, not copy or share them.

Open Access articles are articles that are free to the reader (and the library.) They are found:

• in Open Access journals
• in journals that allow a mix of traditionally published and Open Access content
• in repositories, which are usually hosted by universities and other research institutions
• on the open web, on author's web sites or on aggregator sites like ResearchGate