19. Invention, Intellectual Property and Income:
Let's talk about Open Access!
Basic science researchers do not tend to worry much about legal issues of intellectual property of our scientific work, until it is hindered by the lack of access to certain sources of information. For this reason, a movement arose in the 1990s that advocated free access to scientific information by the scientific community and the general public. To give concrete form to this movement, a group of researchers from various fields of science met in the city of Budapest on December 1 and 2. The meeting concluded with a proposal adopted by the Open Society Institute, now the Open Society Foundation: Budapest Open Access Initiative.
Open Access
Image taken for Open Access Network web page.
In the context of digital material, open access refers to the ability to access such material without the need for registration, subscription, payment, or other restrictions. This concept is particularly relevant in the academic and scientific communities, where it is used to describe the ability to access peer-reviewed research articles without any barriers.
We can see it to as a publishing model that allows free and open access to research and scholarly literature. One of its main characteristics is free access, which means that articles and studies are available at no cost to readers, eliminating economic barriers that could limit access to information. This makes it easier for anyone interested to access research results, regardless of their financial situation.
Another important feature is open licensing. Many open access publications use licenses such as Creative Commons, which allow users to copy, distribute and reuse the material, as long as the original authorship is acknowledged. This encourages the dissemination of knowledge and collaboration between researchers and the general public.
Image taken for Open Access Netherland.
Open access offers immediate availability. Documents are published online and are immediately accessible upon publication, which accelerates the dissemination of knowledge. This immediacy is crucial in a world where speed in the transmission of information is essential for scientific progress. The open access model is also associated with greater visibility and citation. Papers published in open access tend to receive more attention and citations than those in fee-paying journals, which can increase the visibility and impact of research. This is beneficial for both authors and the institutions that support the research.
Diversity of formats is another feature of open access. It is not limited to journal articles; it also includes books, reports, theses and research data, thus broadening the type of content available to the public. This variety allows different types of information to be accessible and reusable.
Benefits of Open Access. Image taken for here.
Open access promotes transparency and reproducibility in research. By allowing more people to access studies, it promotes transparency in methods and results, which can improve the reproducibility of scientific findings. This is critical for credibility and trust in research. In terms of sustainability, some open access models are funded through article processing fees (APCs) paid by authors or their institutions. This has generated debates about the financial sustainability of the model, as it may create new barriers for some researchers. Open access has institutional and governmental support. Many universities and funding agencies are promoting this model as part of their research policies, encouraging researchers to publish in open access. This support is essential for the growth and consolidation of open access in the academic community.
The principal open access categories are gold, green, diamond and black.
Image taken for Open Access Network web page.
Open Access Gold is an open access model that makes research articles freely accessible to all, promoting the dissemination of knowledge. This model is characterized by the immediate publication of articles, although authors or their institutions usually pay a processing fee to cover publication costs. Articles are published under open licenses, such as Creative Commons, which facilitates their reuse and adaptation. Open Access Gold encourages transparency in research and tends to increase the visibility and citation of papers, contributing to the democratization of access to scientific knowledge. More information about Open Access Gold can be found here.
Image taken for Open Access Network web page.
Open Access Green is an open access model that allows authors to deposit their works in institutional or thematic repositories after publishing them in academic journals, either in preprint or postprint versions. This approach guarantees free access to research, promoting the dissemination of knowledge and facilitating compliance with open access policies required by institutions and funding agencies. In addition, it offers flexibility to authors as to when and how to share their work, and allows them to choose different licenses for their publications, thus ensuring control over their research. More information about Open Access Green can be found here.
Open Access Diamond is a model of academic publishing that allows free and open access to research, at no cost to authors or readers. Sustained by grants and institutional support, this approach promotes the dissemination of knowledge and equity in access to scientific information, ensuring that all interested parties can benefit from the findings without economic barriers. It fosters transparency in the review and publication processes, contributing to sustainable practices in scientific dissemination. More information about Open Access Diamond can be found here.
Logo of Sci Hub. Image taken for Wikipedia.
Open Access Black refers to an open access model in which research articles are freely available, but without the consent of the authors or publishers. This occurs, for example, when copies of published works are uploaded to repositories or online platforms without proper authorization. Often, this type of access can infringe copyright and journal policies, and although it allows access to information, it raises ethical and legal questions about intellectual property. The most know and controversial site of Open Access Black is Sci Hub. This site was founded for Alexandra Elakyan on September 5 of 2011 with the goal of
Venn diagram of different ways to publish scientific information. Image taken for Research to Action.
Disseminate of my final project
As I said before, this final project of Fab Academy 2024 is an initial step of my PhD, in an ARES Project call "In situ monitoring of water quality in Cuban bays: creating and promoting the use of scientific tools". The philosophy of this project is making a lot of promotional labor of our work and results in the communities closed of the Cuban bays, the general public and the academic community. For this reason, we will organize workshops on the community of Casablanca, on the Faculty of Physics of the University of Havana and some other places. The main objective of my PhD will be design and make a medium size wave flume, a generalization of this final project. The process of the building and the results of experiments on Fluid Mechanics and Complex Systems will be published on some Open Access Journal, following these open lines of ARES projects. So, you will see me soon me again.