Open Access gains momentum

In a recent publication, Lib4RI, the joint library of the Research Institutes within the ETH Domain, has compiled evidence to show that Open Access is gaining momentum. To recap, here is what Open Access is all about:

Open access (OA) means unrestricted online access to peer-reviewed scholarly research. Open access is primarily intended for scholarly journal articles, but is also provided for a growing number of theses, book chapters, and scholarly monographs. Open access comes in two degrees: gratis open access, which is free online access, and libre open access, which is free online access plus some additional usage rights. These additional usage rights are often granted through the use of various specific Creative Commons licenses. Only libre open access is fully compliant with definitions of open access such as the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities.

(Open access. (2015, January 6). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 10:44, January 7, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open_access&oldid=641177048)

On the one hand, the article acknowledges that OA is seen as a new market, in which both new and old players thrive. Also, scientific and porfessional societies (such as IEEE or ACM) play an important role to propagate OA. Not to be neglected is the power of funding agencies, where for example the EU plays an important role.