The Budapest Open Access Initiative and Budapest +10 recommendations outline that Open Access research should be:
"Open Access Explained!" by Piled Higher and Deeper (PHD Comics) is licensed under CC BY 3.0
Green Open Access Publishing = article is freely available in an institutional or research repository.
Gold Open Access Publishing = article is freely available upon publication through an Open Access journal or via an open license.
Did you know that you can even use the Bailey Library's One Search to find Open Access articles? Just limit your results to "Open Access in the left side menu.
at are Open Educational Resources (OER)?When remixing OER content, make sure to check for license compatibility.
"Figure 3: Mapping of terms to copyright licenses" in Clarification of Free Cultural Works, Open Educational Resources and Open Access, by Paul G. West, Version 4 May 2021, is in the Public Domain.
makes scholarly communication more efficient and accessible by eliminating costs and technical barriers to access (including for WCC faculty and students).
increases the opportunity for collaboration and idea-sharing by making access to knowledge open and equitable.
Research funding frequently comes from government and philanthropic sources.
Researchers are frequently employed by public institutions.
Research is shared via for-profit scholarly journals.
Authors must grant the journal exclusive rights (the journal becomes the copyright holder).
Peer-reviewers provide essential editing and review services for free (at no cost to the journal).
Researchers and institutions (even those that did the research) have to pay for-profit publishers for access to their publicly-funded research.
level the playing field for all students by eliminating costs and increasing the equity and accessibility of educational materials. Born digital content = easy to share for free.
give educators the flexibility to customize and tailor content so that learning materials are relevant to and fit the needs of their students. More relevant = more learning.
allow educators to retain their copyright while legally providing permission to use and share.
Yet, even while research shows that OER have a positive impact on student success, many myths about OER remain:
| Myth #1: Open simply means free | Fact: Open means the permission to freely download, edit, and share materials to better serve all students |
| Myth #2: All OER are digital | Fact: OER take many formats, including print, digital, audio, and more |
| Myth #3: “You get what you pay for” |
Fact: OER can be produced to the same quality standards as traditional textbooks. *Often with the same editorial/peer-review standards as traditional textbooks. |
| Myth #4: Copyright for OER is complicated | Fact: Open licensing makes OER easy to freely and legally use |
| Myth #5: OER are not sustainable | Fact: Models are evolving to support the sustainability and continuous improvement of OER |
| Myth #6: Open textbooks lack ancillaries | Fact: Open textbooks often come with ancillaries, and when they do not, existing OER can provide additional support |
| Myth #7: My institution is not ready for OER |
Fact: Any institution can start with small steps toward OER that make an impact for students. *WCC had over 350 individual course sections using OER textbooks in Fall of 2023! |
SPARC (2017). OER Mythbusting (sparcopen.org/our-work/oer-mythbusting) Washington, DC: SPARC. This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
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"Creative Commons" by Molly Ledermann, Washtenaw Community College, is licensed under CC BY 4.0 
