Open Access Seminar

International moves towards Open Access (OA) have come from both central government and individual funding bodies in some countries, i.e. USA, Australia, China, Canada, India, Argentina, UK and other EU countries etc. The term open access is a hotly debated concept which has many implications and meanings. Open Access publishing models have transformed the academic publishing tradition, becoming more viable and increasingly gaining tremendous support from authors, who appreciate the increased visibility of their work, as well as academic institutions and funders, who value the societal impact of freely available research. OA has contributed tremendously to a global knowledge economy. There are more than 148 funders as well as over 509 (15 South African) institutions and universities worldwide who have adopted an open access policy or mandate their researchers to make their work freely available, either via green or gold open access. There are currently about 2898 repositories registered worldwide (OpenDOAR), 10455 OA Journal titles, 6338 searchable at article level from 134 countries, and there are 1 913 201 peer reviewed OA articles available on the Internet (DOAJ). This trend is blossoming due to a growing number of funding bodies and institutions requiring that publicly funded research be made available to researchers and the general public in open access format, as a benefit (return) of their investment. The NRF also recognises the importance of Open Science and Open Data and as a funding agency and also as part of the Global Research Council. The presentation will focus on the Open Access to science and research as public good and the status of repositories in South Africa