{"id":220,"date":"2017-10-26T16:42:45","date_gmt":"2017-10-26T15:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/osc\/?p=220"},"modified":"2023-04-27T09:50:33","modified_gmt":"2023-04-27T08:50:33","slug":"finding-open-access-resources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/osc\/2017\/10\/26\/finding-open-access-resources\/","title":{"rendered":"Sources of Open Access Scholarly Works: Where to Start?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Post written by Helen Cooper, our Research Support Librarian. This blog was first published on the IT & Library news blog here<\/a>.<\/h5>\n
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What do we mean by Open Access?<\/h2>\n

\u201cOpen Access (OA) refers to the practice of making peer-reviewed scholarly research and literature freely available online to anyone interested in reading it\u201d see\u00a0https:\/\/opensource.com\/resources\/what-open-access<\/a>. \u00a0Many scholarly works can be found and downloaded from the internet, but not everything you find has been made available legitimately. \u00a0Before you can use a work that you have located on the web you should be sure that the person or organisation that has uploaded it had the right to do so.\u00a0 You will also want to know what tests of quality and scholarly integrity have been applied.\u00a0 Is the hosting site a reputable peer-reviewed platform, or a pay-to-publish commercial enterprise?\u00a0The Think.Check.Submit<\/a>\u00a0process is aimed at scholars choosing where to publish their own work, but the principles can be applied to sourcing scholarly works too.<\/p>\n

Once you have established the legitimacy of the work, you then need to know if you can use it. Being able to access the work for free does not necessarily mean you have the right to re-use it.\u00a0 Unless a piece of work has been licensed by the copyright owner to be copied, remixed and re-distributed then you may be limited as to what you can do with the information you have found. Unless\u00a0copyright exceptions<\/a>\u00a0apply (these allow limited use of copyright material for socially beneficial purposes without the rightsholder\u2019s permission), reuse of a work will require a licence applied by the Copyright owner.\u00a0 The application of a licence, for instance one of the\u00a0Creative Commons<\/a>\u00a0suite of licences, gives an indication of what you can do with the work you have found. \u00a0However, without a Creative Commons Licence, or a similarly clear statement of what is allowed, you cannot be sure as to what re-use has been permitted and you will need to err on the side of caution.\u00a0 Unless it\u2019s clearly labelled as Open Access, it probably isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Authoritative sources of OA materials<\/h2>\n

To help with finding safe OA versions of scholarly works, there are a number of services that list Open Access resources from authorised sources, and some services which search for and deliver available Open Access content.\u00a0 Some search across other web pages looking for works that are available and meet a defined test of quality and authority, others invite contributions from publishers and copyright owners. Some offer search engines like bibliographic databases, others offer a tool to locate an Open Access version of a specific title.\u00a0 All of them support the principle of Open Access, but within the bounds of current copyright legislation and international scholarly practice.<\/p>\n

Open Access Button<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

A JISC supported development that will search for your desired work for an Open Access copy.\u00a0 If one is not available they will make a request that a version should be made Open Access.\u00a0 This service will not help you browse but will help you find an accessible copy once you know what you are looking for.\u00a0 They also provide a button that you can install on your browser for instant use.<\/p>\n

Sources include most of the major aggregated repositories globally:<\/p>\n