Open Access Resources

Pratt Institute Libraries have included a number of open access resources in our A-Z Database list, which features many types of open access resources, including the following.

Discovery Tools and Indexes: These are search engines and searchable catalogs that can help you find open access resources. Indexes typically include metadata about the publications they cover, such as the title, author, publication date, and abstract, but some may include full-text versions of the publications themselves. Examples include Google Scholar, the Directory of Open Access Repositories, and the Open Access Button.

Institutional Repositories: These are digital collections of scholarly materials created and maintained by academic institutions. Institutional repositories typically include journal articles, conference papers, theses and dissertations, and other scholarly works produced by faculty and students at the institution. Examples of institutional repositories include the Harvard University DASH repository, the University of California eScholarship repository, and the Cornell University eCommons repository.

Open Access Databases: Many open access resources, such as scholarly articles, research data, books, and more, are deposited in OA databases. These databases, which are often subject specific, serve a variety of purposes, such as providing access to scientific data, making historical archives available to the public, or storing collections of open access books and journals. Examples include PubMed Central (PMC), a free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature, and the arXiv database, which is an open access archive for scholarly articles in the fields of physics, mathematics, computer science, quantitative biology, and more. 

Publishers: Many publishers provide open access options for some of their journals, journal articles, and books. Examples include the Public Library of Science (PLOS), a non-profit publisher that offers open access journals in a range of scientific fields, including biology, medicine, and public health; and Open Book Publishers, a non-profit publisher that specializes in open access books in the humanities and social sciences.

Open Access resources are like any other resource in that some are high-quality, and others are not so great. As with any resource, you should carefully assess the quality of open access resources before incorporating them into your research. Here are some factors researchers should consider when evaluating the quality of an open access book, article, or journal:

Check the Journal's Reputation: How long has the journal been around for? The older and more established the journal, the more likely it is to be a reliable source. Where is the journal indexed? Reputable journals are often indexed in major bibliographic databases. Does the journal have an impact factor? A journal’s impact factor is a journal-level metric that reflects the yearly mean number of citations of articles published in the last two years in a given journal. It is frequently used as a proxy for the relative importance of a journal within its field; journals with higher impact factor carry more prestige than those with lower values.

Check for Peer Review: Open access journals should have a clear and transparent peer-review process. When evaluating a journal, look for information on the journal's website about their peer-review process and the criteria used to evaluate submissions. A journal with a robust and transparent peer-review process is more likely to publish high-quality research.

Check the Authors’ Credentials: Who publishes in the journal? Are they experts in the field, and do they have a track record of publishing high-quality research? If the author has a good reputation and has published in other credible journals, it's more likely that their work is of high quality.

Check the Research Methods: Are the methods sound, appropriate for the research question, and consistent with the field’s established research methodology? Are the results supported by the data presented? Look for articles that describe the research methods used in detail, including the study design, sampling methods, data collection procedures, and statistical analysis.

Check the Publishing Practices: Reputable academic journals typically have clear policies on ethical issues, such as plagiarism, fabrication of data, and conflicts of interest. Check the journal's website for information on its policies and ensure that they align with accepted standards, such as those provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

This is not an exhaustive list, and uncertainty regarding any of the above points does not automatically invalidate the resource. But these are, nonetheless, important factors to consider when evaluating resources for your research.