What is open research?

Open research advances knowledge and drives forward human progress.

Open research is also known as open science or open scholarship. It is based on the idea that knowledge is most beneficial when it is widely accessible. Open Research is a set of principles and practices with the goal of making research more transparent, open, reusable, and reproducible. It aims to make the outputs of a research project available for anyone to read and build upon. It includes:

  • Open access. Research publications that are available online for anyone to access and reuse for free.
  • Open data. Research data that is shared openly and can be reused by others.
  • Open materials. Sharing additional outputs that underpin how a project was conducted, such as code, software, methods, or protocols.
  • Open peer review. Where information generated through the review process, such as the content of a review report, is made available to give readers transparency.
Our position on open research

What is open access?

Open access makes published research available to everyone.

Open access makes published research freely and permanently available online, so that anyone can read and build upon it. It can include journal articles, books, and chapters. Some journals are ‘hybrid’ and have a mix of subscription and Open Access articles. Open Access removes barriers to published research, and gives it greater visibility, reach, and impact. 

Instead of readers paying to read articles, many Open Access journals charge an Article Publishing Charge (APC) to authors, their institutions, or research funders. For books, a Book Publishing Charge (BPC) may apply. Over 350 of our journals are fully Open Access, and more than a third of the articles we publish are Open Access. We have also converted over 120 journals from subscription to Open Access since 2012. In addition, we have built one of the largest Open Access book and chapter collections.

Read our guide to open access

Benefits of open access

Open Access makes knowledge more widely available. It helps advance research progress too, because researchers can more easily build upon the work of others. Benefits include:

  • Visibility. Open Access publications are more visible and discoverable. The geographic spread of your readership expands. When your research is available worldwide without restriction, anyone, anywhere can see it.
  • Impact. By making your research findings more widely available, you can have a greater impact on policy, practice, and industry. Because Open Access allows researchers to build on existing research quickly, its impact is greater and faster.
  • Engagement. Increased visibility and readership leads to more citations. Open Access also encourages the public to engage with research, which is often funded by the public.
  • Collaboration. Open Access enables researchers to collaborate on a global scale.
  • Funder compliance. An increasing number of authors are required to publish Open Access by their funder, institution, or employer. 

Open Access also has a positive impact on society. More research can be done more quickly, and those results can be more trusted. Public engagement is higher. And people in areas where they would not have the funds to be able to pay for journal subscriptions can now access research for free.

Benefits of open access