Open Access Publishing: What is Open Access Publishing?

Definition:
Open access publishing refers to the publication of research and other academic material in a manner accessible to all. This means that the full text of the article can be found online for free.

Advantages of Open Access Publishing:

• Opens academic discussions to more participants. This is particularly true for researchers from developing countries or poorer institutions, that cannot afford costly subscriptions to journals.
• Academic output becomes accessible to policymakers and can influence their decisions.

Dangers and Disadvantages in Open Access Publishing:

• Lack of adequate quality-control and peer-review processes.
• Development of predatory journals

Predatory Journals are low quality journals that accept articles for publication without providing academic review. Avoid publishing in such journals by checking the lists of verified open access journals, such as the DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), or lists of known predatory journals, like Cabell's Blacklist.

Types of Open Access Publishing:
There are several modes of publishing in open access, which are usually named by color. The two most important are Gold and Green open access.

• Gold Open Access: in this mode the authors pay the publishers, who make the article accessible immediately.
• Green Open Access: in this mode the article is published in a journal and becomes accessible only after an "embargo period" of several months. The term "Green Open Access" also refers to the publication of articles in accessible academic databases without the process of peer-reviewing them.