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v2026.1714 entries · CC-BY 4.0
Dictionary termTrack EStablev2026.1

Open access

Making peer reviewed scholarly content freely available via the Internet.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board
· Last updated 19 May 2026

Editorial commentary

Making peer reviewed scholarly content freely available via the Internet. Permitting any user to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full text of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any lawful purpose, without financial, legal or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself. The only constraint on reproduction and distribution, and the only role for copyright in this domain, should be to give authors control over the integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited. Can also apply to theses, books, book chapters, monographs and other content.

Also known as

free content · free access

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element
xml
<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Open access"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/open-access" />
Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)
json
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "name": "Open access",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/open-access/",
  "description": "Making peer reviewed scholarly content freely available via the Internet.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/knowledge-equity-diversity-global-south-inclusion/",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/open-access/",
  "sameAs": [
    "http://www.righttoresearch.org/resources/OpenResearchGlossary/index.shtml",
    "free content",
    "free access"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}

Adopted by research universities worldwide

University of Cambridge logoColumbia University logoUniversity of Edinburgh logoHarvard University logoMassachusetts Institute of Technology logoUniversity of Oxford logoPrinceton University logoStanford School of Medicine logoUniversity College London logoUniversity of Cambridge logoColumbia University logoUniversity of Edinburgh logoHarvard University logoMassachusetts Institute of Technology logoUniversity of Oxford logoPrinceton University logoStanford School of Medicine logoUniversity College London logo
  • University of Cambridge logo
  • Columbia University logo
  • University of Edinburgh logo
  • Harvard University logo
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology logo
  • University of Oxford logo
  • Princeton University logo
  • Stanford School of Medicine logo
  • University College London logo

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