Resources

Resources for learning more about OA opportunities:

There are several free resources to Open Access content that are available as search tools:

• Open Access Button provides a channel for accessing scholarly articles, which may be hidden behind paywalls. Request access to a particular article through openaccessbutton.org and the site will request access from the article's author. 

• Unpaywall compiles Open Access content that has a DOI from over 50,000 publishers and repositories. This is a good source for discovering Open Access content that might be right for you. 

• Users can browse CC Search, which has aggregated over 300 million open images from public repositories across the web into one catalog.

• See the Open Access and Freely Available Resources Guide for more information and resources. 

Resources for learning more about OA: 

• SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Research Coalition) has a number of resources on learning about Open Access, Open Education, Open Data, and Impact Stories. 

• Peter Suber (a leading theorist and advocate for OA) offers this helpful primer on the movement. In addition, Suber has published myriad essays, blogs, articles, and interviews that cover a host of pertinent issues relating to Open Access. 

• The Open Access Directory is an extensive compendium of information about open access.

Information about Publishers, Templates and Resources for Crafting Advantageous Copyright and Contracts

There are resources available for those looking to educate themselves about copyright, contract negotiation, and various publishers:

• The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) offers information, programming, resources, and more.  Their resources are immensely helpful in understanding the open access landscape and for publishing in and advocating for open access.

• SPARC offers an effective author addendum for those entering into publisher's agreements, as well as a tool for determining the openness of a publication. 

• Authors Alliance offers many resources covering issues such as open access, copyright, and contract negotiation.

• Creative Commons offers guidance on the different ways to craft a Creative Commons license, and what each distinction means.