Have you heard the terms “open textbooks” or, more broadly, the umbrella term “open educational resources” (OER)? OER are free, openly licensed textbooks or other types of course materials. They are designed to be high quality, free alternatives to traditional textbooks.
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With over 5.3 million downloads since 2015, STARS helps authors reach a worldwide audience by providing an online home for open access content! STARS, UCF’s Showcase of Text, Archives, Research & Scholarship, is the digital institutional repository of content by, for, or about the University of Central Florida. Everyday UCF authors use STARS to manage, share, and increase impact for their full range of scholarship while retaining the rights to their works.
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2021 marks the 14th year for Open Access Week — a global event that celebrates the Open Access (OA) movement. Here at UCF Libraries, we will be celebrating the week by sharing information about open access resources and tools that can be used by researchers year-round. From UCF’s institutional repository, STARS, to support for locating and using open educational resources, there are many different ways the Libraries can assist you with open access resources. Throughout the week, we’ll share blog posts and social media posts too, so stay tuned!
“Open Access” is a term used to describe a reform movement that aims to make scholarly literature freely available on the web and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. It can also describe an item itself. For example, if a journal article is Open Access, then that means it is available for free access and, typically, unrestricted non-commercial use.
To publish something “Open Access” is in contrast to traditional publishing. Where a traditional publisher of academic journals charges money to read those journal articles, an Open Access academic journal is free to read and access online.
However, those interested in publishing will want to consider a variety of factors before deciding if OA is right for them. For instance, there may be other costs associated with publishing, such as Article Processing Charges — a fee charged to authors to make their work accessible in some Open Access journals. In addition, researchers will want to explore strategies for discerning reliable publishers and considerations for grant funding requirements.
Open Access does not just apply to academic journal articles. Books, textbooks, data-sets, and other works can also be Open Access. For more information about open access resources, visit our guide: https://guides.ucf.edu/OA/home.
Follow us all week to learn about how Open Access. Meanwhile, check out the official Open Access Week website (http://www.openaccessweek.org/) and UCF Libraries’ Office of Scholarly Communication website for more information (https://library.ucf.edu/about/departments/scholarly-communication/).
For additional information or to answer any questions please contact Sarah Norris, Scholarly Communication Librarian by email at: sarah.norris@ucf.edu.
In academic articles, it can sometimes be difficult to identify when the author is stating a fact or providing an opinion. Luckily there are clues you can use to help you. Find out the key to recognizing when a statement is a fact, and when it’s an author’s interpretation, to help you select the best supporting evidence to include in your papers!
“For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them” – Thich Nhat Hanh
In celebration of Diversity Month, we invite you to explore the rich cultural and personal experiences represented in our collections. Not sure where to start? Check out our featured book guide.