Open Access

This website offers up explanations of Open Access and related concepts in the form of short definitions. While it doesn't cover a vast array of topics related to open access or delve into any topic very deeply it does give a brief and easy explanation for base concepts. It also offers a list of further readings and links to other useful websites, discussion forums, and directories.

This Wikipedia page is well-documented and comprehensive. It is an fair beginning resource for a scholar who wants to know about what Open Access is, how it works, its history and more in a very short amount of time. It includes an extensive list of references, further readings, empirical studies, and external links. Part of a public wiki, this source is more susceptible to error than others but it is the shortest comprehensive exploration of OA.

This comprehensive wiki seeks to keep abreast of all things OA by encouraging contribution from all OA scholars to its resources and, therefore, is an important resource for all things OA. It provides many useful lists of a number of different sources related to OA, including educational materials, lists of participating journals, blogs about OA, OA wikis, and much more. The wiki itself is frequently maintained by a panel of editors so information is kept current, relevant, and correct. Of particular use to researchers of OA is the section titled “Lists by others” which includes a list of bibliographies focused on OA.

This bibliography includes research from just prior to 1999 through 2004. This is a seminal, authoritative work for OA scholars, especially those interested in the historical arguments for and against OA. Much of this bibliography is included in Bailey's 2010 publication, Transforming Scholarly Publishing through Open Access: A Bibliography.

A short list of common words and phrases related to open access and their definitions. From the University of North Texas.

This video uses a decision chart to compare different publishing models. It includes traditional publishing as well as several kinds of open access publishing. From the University of Essex Library.