El acceso abierto a la literatura científica en España: dos rutas de color

A study on the significance of the Open Access Initiative in Spain based on the analysis of practical experiences carried out by various institutions. First, the paper describes the features of scholarly communication and the effects of the birth of digital edition on the research world. It also draws a comparison between the traditional model of scholarly communication, where the author, publisher/reviewer, publishing companies and libraries are the architects of the whole process, and the communication model in the Digital Age, where their roles have been modified. The most relevant Open Access policies implemented in Spain and Europe as well as worldwide, are also described. Next, a definition of the two possible routes to Open Access is provided: namely, the gold road, which involves the publication of scientific work findings in Open Access journals, and the green road, which allows researchers to self-archive the product of their work in institutional repositories. Finally, the paper describes and compares the various Open Access initiatives undertaken in Spain, which have proved to be extremely useful resources for research, since they permit the retrieval, reuse and preservation of information and also favour the dissemination and visibility of scientific information finding