Support for Open Access Publishing

What is Open Access (OA)?

“Open-access (OA) literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.”– from Peter Suber’s A Very Brief Introduction to Open Access

Why does Open Access matter?

The current system of scholarly publishing can inhibit access to scholarly work through fees and technological barriers.  Open Access in its different forms provides access to scholarship free of subscription fees and in some cases free of licensing restrictions.

How is access to OA literature provided?

Open access can be provided through deposit of scholarship in free online repositories (“green OA”); or through web-based journals that do not charge subscription fees to readers (“gold OA”).

How does the UVA Library support Open Access publishing?

The Library provides Libra, UVA’s institutional repository.  Libra offers a secure place for the UVA community to deposit digital scholarship and make it freely available.  For more background on Libra, see the Faculty Senate Open Access Resolution of February 5, 2010.  From 2013-2017 the Library administered an open access fund, which was a pilot project to subsidize the publication of some articles in open access journals.

How can I learn more?

There are many good online sources of information about Open Access.  Two of the best are: