Definition and stakeholders
Open Access can be defined as access to research-based publications that are peer reviewed, permanently and promptly accessible without payment, and re-usable on the sole condition of crediting the author(s).
Achieving Open Access (OA) involves all the stakeholders of the research life cycle to begin with the authors who are the initial copyright holders of the publications and then the publishers who coordinate the peer review.
Libraries build and maintain the national and institutional infrastructures that facilitate prompt and permanent access.
Research funders define conditions for granting financing; mandating access to the resulting publications may be among these conditions. Service providers encourage the reuse of scientific and scholarly findings. Ultimately, legislators may set rules for access to knowledge in our knowledge-permeated democracies
