Psychology: Open Access

Funders invest in research in order to accelerate the pace of scientific discovery, encourage innovation, enrich education, and stimulate the economy – to improve the public good. They recognize that broad access to the results of research is an essential component of the research process itself. Research advances only through sharing of results, and the value of an investment in research is only maximized through wide use of its results.

Yet, too often, research results are not available to the broadest community of potential users. The Internet provides a new opportunity to bring information to a wider audience at virtually no marginal cost, and allow them to use it in new, innovative ways. This has resulted in a call for new framework to allow research results to be more easily accessed and used—a call for Open Access.

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• Researchers and their institutions benefit from having the widest possible audience

Researchers provide their articles to publishers for free, because their compensation comes in the form of recognition for their findings. Open Access means more readers, more potential collaborators, more citations for their work, and ultimately more recognition for them and their institution. Open Access means improved access to research for all.

• Research benefits when the latest techniques can be easily used

For years, we have had powerful text and data mining tools that can analyse the entire research literature, uncovering trends and connections that no human reader could. While publishers’ technical and legal barriers currently prevent their widespread use, Open Access empowers anyone to use these tools, which hold the potential of revolutionising how research is conducted.

• Breakthroughs often come from unexpected places

The Theory of Relativity was developed by a patent clerk. Open Access expands the number of potential contributors to research from just those at institutions wealthy enough to afford journal subscriptions to anyone with an internet connection.

• Funders invest in research to advance human knowledge and ultimately improve lives
• Open Access increases the return on that investment by ensuring the results of the research they fund can be read and built on and used by anyone, including Industry and Society.

• Even the best ideas remain just that until they are shared, until they can be utilised by others

The more people that can access and build upon the latest research, the more valuable that research becomes and the more likely we are to benefit as a society. More eyes make for smaller problems. 

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