Open Access (OA) makes scholarly research permanently available online without restriction, which can provide benefits to all those who have a stake in the scholarly publishing process – researchers, funders, students, librarians, scholarly societies, publishers and the general public. For Cambridge University Press, OA plays an important part in allowing us to fulfil our mission of furthering the advancement of learning, knowledge and research worldwide.

Gold OA and Green OA each present opportunities as well as risks for journals and books. We help authors and our journal publishing partners to consider OA options whilst understanding that different publications, in different subject areas, need an approach that is tailored to their circumstances.

The benefits of OA include:

Discoverability and dissemination:
OA works are freely available online for anyone in the world to access and share. Researchers can access OA literature, even outside a university campus, without encountering paywalls. Authors can benefit from the open availability of their research to others, potentially leading to an increase in the visibility and usage of their work. Many funding agencies have encouraged or mandated OA because the potential for enhanced visibility and discoverability promises a greater return on their investment.

Educational and other re-use:
Gold OA works can often be re-used without needing to request additional permission from publishers. For example, an OA article could be re-published in a university course package, or translated by someone into a different language, or figures or text from an article could be re-used in a presentation. Through Gold OA it is possible to enable anyone to make derivative versions of your work, depending upon the particular Creative Commons licence you apply.

Public access and engagement:
OA means greater access for society at large and potentially greater public engagement with research. OA can help professionals outside academia who rely on research – including health workers, teachers and lawyers – to benefit from access to the latest findings.