Title: Module 2: Assingment answers
Course: Teaching Open Science and Research Data Management for Undergraduates > Section: Module 2: Open Access

1. Watch the video “Open Access Explained” and reflect on how Open Access can change the scientific world in the future and the challenges it faces.

Open Access Explained!

Example answer:

Wider access to information: Open access would make research information freely and easily available to everyone, regardless of their location or financial resources. This would promote accessibility and democratise access to knowledge.

Faster dissemination of knowledge: Open access would allow research results and data to be disseminated more quickly and widely across different sectors of society. This would foster scientific progress and innovation and speed up problem solving.

Increased societal impact and visibility: Open access allows research results and data to reach a wider audience, with more citations.

Challenges:

Cultural and institutional barriers: In some disciplines and research communities, the use of open access is not yet an established practice. This is often due to traditional approaches, cultural expectations and institutional barriers. Conservatism. Slow changes.

Financing models: Traditional publishing models are often based on subscription and subscription fees, which are an important source of revenue for publishers. The transition to open access may require the development of new funding models.

Researchers want to publish in high quality journals (at any price), leaving them with the power to decide on openness.

2. Find out about Journal Open Access Policies:

- Choose a journal that you are familiar with in your field.
- Use the link to the Sherpa/Romeo site to determine the journal’s OA policies.  Sherpa Romeo is an online resource that aggregates and presents publisher and journal open access policies from around the world.
- Write down what you found out.

*** It is impossible to give a standard answer to this question - find out yourself! ***

3. True or false? If false, correct the statement.

a. An Academic Journal is a non-scholarly periodical where researchers publish articles sharing their personal opinions.

   - False: No opinions are shared

b. Articles published in Academic Journals are typically peer-reviewed to ensure credibility.

   - True

c. All Academic Journals offer free access to their articles, ensuring that there is no financial barrier to accessing knowledge.

   - False: Some require payment from authors and/or readers.

d. Open-access journals charge a fee for readers to access and download published articles.

   - False: Open-access journals don’t charge a fee for readers.

e. Preprints are early versions of research papers that are shared publicly in scientific repositories before they have undergone the peer-review process.

   - True/False: Preprint can usually be shared, but not necessarily always. Publishers are often very positive about publishing preprints, but you should always check the policy before sharing a preprint.

f. Predatory publishing charges authors fees without offering the same quality or services as real academic journals.

- True