Open Access
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Hopkins Libraries and Open Scholarship
The Johns Hopkins Libraries affirm a vision of open scholarship that advances research, teaching, and intellectual growth, and furthers the University's mission of knowledge for the world. Open scholarship benefits everyone because it facilitates faster dissemination and access to knowledge by broader audiences. Open scholarship removes barriers to interdisciplinary and international scholarship, facilitates discovery and collaboration across fields, and ensures that scholarship remains accessible through time. For these reasons the JHU Libraries are committed to supporting the immense possibilities of open scholarship.
Your Librarian
Legislation and Directives
Agencies and Reports
Groups across the globe are examining different aspects of the publishing environment. Here are a few groups and some of their reports.
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Pathways to Open AccessReport from the University of California Libraries. Reviews different OA methods and lays out their strengths and weaknesses.
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OA2020Initiative created by the Max Planck Digital Library to accelerate the transition to Open Access.
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SPARC 2018 Program PlanSPARC is a coalition of libraries, working to make research more open. JHU Libraries are a member of SPARC.
OA Basics
For the purposes of this guide, Open Access refers to making peer-reviewed journal articles freely available for reading and re-use. Terms like Open Access, Open Scholarship, Open Science, Open Source, Open Data, and Open Educational Resources are sometimes used interchangeably or sloppily. Please contact a librarian if you have questions about the use of these terms.
Finding Reliable Open Access Journals and Books
Since identifying a predatory journal is a process and involves a lot of subjective considerations, there isn't one list of bad actors. You should use one or more of the sites below to help you identify predatory journals. Most of these are 'white lists', or lists of journals that meet certain requirements to prove they are reputable. Some are lists of characteristics for you to look for when considering a journal.
Funder OA Requirements
Many funding insititutions now require recipients to make journal articles freely available to the public. Making journal articles freely available will allow:
- access to researchers in developing countries,
- access to researchers at small institutions,
- taxpayers to see what their monies supported,
- and support public groups like patient advocacay groups and environmental groups.
SPARC, ROARMAP and SHERPA/FACT provide lists of funding agencies with such mandates. A Funder Compliance guide is available from the JHU Libraries.
Faculty Open Access Agreements
Faculty and researchers at many universities, institutions, individual schools and units have agreed to make their journal articles freely available to the public. These mandates are generally not tied to funding directives, but are focused on making research (journal articles) generated by a specific group freely available to everyone. University of Oregon law professor Eric Priest analyzed the Harvard OA mandate in this paper.
ROARMAP provides lists of the institutions and units that have these mandates. You can search or browse to view the wide range of mandates and institutions involved. SPARC hosts the Coalition of Open Access Policy Institutions (COAPI).
Below are a few of the more prominent institutions that have such a mandate.
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Harvard University Library Office for Scholarly CommunicationThe faculty of several Harvard schools now have Open Access initiatives.
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Scholarly Publishing @ MIT LibrariesAll MIT faculty have agreed to an Open Access Policy regarding their journal articles.
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Open Access @ KUThe KU faculty approved an Open Access policy in 2010.
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UC Open Access PolicyAll 10 UC campuses are included in this green OA policy that was approved in 2013.
What is Open Access by PHD Comics
Nick Shockey and Jonathan Eisen, with the gang at PHD Comics, explain Open Access for Open Access Week 2012.