Welcome to Open Scholarship at Waterloo

As a student:

• Open access removes the barriers of high journal subscription costs, which can be cost-prohibitive and put smaller institutions at a greater disadvantage

• Courses will be higher quality when professors have access to the resources they need, as opposed to using content solely because it is affordable or available.

As a researcher:

• Open access (OA) articles often see higher citation rates than closed access articles, in part due to the increased exposure of the work. In a study¹ of over 100,000 articles, OA articles received 18% more citations than average.
  • Open research may also be more easily found and used by news agencies, non-profit organizations, and public policy makers, providing different mechanisms under which the research can make an impact.
• Funders, such as the Tri-Agencies (NSERC, SSHRC, and CIHR), NIH and NASA, are making funding contingent on publishing open access. Read the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy page for more information.

As a member of the public:

• Open access gives the public access to research often funded by their taxes
• Access to research makes it easier for members of public to participate in the scholarly conversation, and do research themselves, often labelled 'citizen science'
• When researchers and students have improved access to scholarly works, innovation and advancements in research happen more quickly

As an organization that invests in research:

• The open access model provides a more sustainable path to funding research.

• Researchers are more easily able to reproduce research.
• Researchers can reuse others data to improve upon others results, or take research in new directions.
  • This can also lead to opportunities for collaboration!
• Open data may prevent unnecessary duplication of effort.
• Open data supports research integrity.
• Open data can help people make informed decisions. For example, open data can help people avoid geese, know when there might be traffic issues, or find the nearest public washroom.

• Using OER improves student access to course materials. The cost of traditional textbooks are often unaffordable for students; OER are made available for free to students.
• OER are adaptable, allowing faculty to create content that is customized for their classes.
• OER allow members of communities beyond colleges and universities to access academic education materials, allowing for broader access to information.