No, unfortunately that is not the definition of OA (which actual means free online access), it is just the definition of Gold OA publishing, one of the two ways to provide OA (and not the fastest or surest way).
The single most important reason OA is not yet growing anywhere near as quickly as it could and should is this persistent perpetuation of the myth that OA is just Gold OA....
Comment. Stevan is right to correct the impression that all OA is gold OA (through journals), and to remind everyone of green OA (through repositories). But "free online access" is itself only part of the story. Stevan links from that phrase to a more complete discussion. But because he doesn't elaborate in his post, I'll elaborate a little. The term "OA" is now used in at least two ways: (1) to remove price barriers alone ("free online access" or gratis OA) and (2) to remove both price and permission barriers (libre OA, which includes BBB OA). The gratis/libre distinction is not the same as the gold/green distinction. The former is about rights or freedoms, and the latter is about venues. Gold OA can be gratis or libre, and green OA can be gratis or libre. Just as we can't afford to forget green OA, we can't afford to forget libre OA.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 7/06/2008 05:48:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
