Open Access: Is Open Access OER?

Short answer: No.

We talk about them together, because they're both alternative economic models for disseminating knowledge to a broader and more equitably constituted audience. There are also compelling arguments that both will be good for the business interests of colleges in the long run. But the key difference is copyright. 

While both are free online resources, Open Educational Resources are generally multimedia learning objects which are under Creative Commons licenses that allow them to be freely reused and remixed. Open Access articles are scholarly articles which are under traditional copyright, so unless otherwise specified, you cannot distribute copies of them or create digital works. 

Both Open Educational Resources and Open Access work within copyright law. Both protect the rights of the copyright owner while expanding access to the content. 

In the case of Open Educational Resources, the copyright owner puts their intellectual property under a Creative Commons license, which permits certain uses of their work, such that their work becomes freely available for both access and remixing. 

In the case of Open Access, the original copyright owner (the author of an article) retains their copyright rather than signing it over to the journal. They also may sign an agreement with the journal that permits them to archive a preprint or postprint on a publicly accessible site or repository. 

It is standard practice in American institutions of higher education for faculty to retain the copyright of the articles and books they write, and of the academic content (courses, learning objects) that they create. This is enshrined in the SUNY Board of Trustees Regulations Title J and clarified in the SUNY Faculty Copyright Ownership FAQ. Both Open Educational Resources and Open Access articles operate within this framework without requiring any alterations or reinterpretations.