What is OpenUCLA?

OpenUCLA, one of four initiatives of UCLA's Centennial Celebration, expands UCLA's commitment to providing open access to knowledge - creating a better future by removing barriers to scholarship. OpenUCLA celebrates UCLA's pursuit of open knowledge, making research publicly and globally accessible. New interfaces will enhance the experience and exploration of our exceptional open digital collections, including vibrant images and rare and unique texts, sounds, and moving images. OpenUCLA programming showcases open knowledge through exhibits, lectures, and events. OpenUCLA expands our local and global impact, building new sources of information about this city and our world for now and for the next century.

Learn more about the UCLA Centennial Celebration and Initiatives:

UCLA Centennial Pillars

UCLA 100 Centennial Initiatives

Beyond the Library Walls (UCLA Magazine Story - October 2019)

Learn more about the UCLA Library's Open Access programs, events, and resources:

UCLA Library - Open Access Research Guide: Learn the basics about what Open Access is and how the UCLA Library is contributing to this important movement.

UCLA Library Office of Scholarly Communications: UCLA faculty, graduate students, and anyone publishing scholarly work can consult with the Library's office of Scholarly Communications for advice on Open Access issues, publishing contracts, and options.

eScholarship: Open Access publications from University of California faculty. All resources here are Open Access. UCLA faculty should deposit their pre-prints here.

What Is Open Access (OA)?

The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) defines Open Access as "the free, immediate, online availability of research articles combined with the rights to use these articles fully in the digital environment". Open Access is the needed modern update for the communication of research that fully utilizes the Internet for what it was originally built to do—accelerate research.

Funders invest in research to advance human knowledge and ultimately improve lives. Open Access increases the return on that investment by ensuring the results of the research they fund can be read and built on by anyone.

Breakthroughs often come from unexpected places; the Theory of Relativity was developed by a patent clerk. Open Access expands the number of potential contributors to research from just those at institutions wealthy enough to afford journal subscriptions to anyone with an internet connection.

Researchers benefit from having the widest possible audience. Researchers provide their articles to publishers for free, because their compensation comes in the form of recognition for their findings. Open Access means more readers, more potential collaborators, more citations for their work, and ultimately more recognition.

The research enterprise itself benefits when the latest techniques can be easily used. For years, we have had powerful text and data mining tools that can analyze the entire research literature, uncovering trends and connections that no human reader could. While publishers’ technical and legal barriers currently prevent their widespread use, Open Access empowers anyone to use these tools, which hold the potential of revolutionizing how research is conducted.

Why Open Access?

Open Access is:

Good for Authors

• Open Access research is read and cited more than access-restricted scholarship, increasing the academic impact of and public engagement with your ideas.

Good for Readers

• The University of California’s Open Access policies extend the University’s public mission to share broadly — throughout California, the nation, and the world — the research and knowledge produced at UC campuses.

Adapted from the University of California eScholarship site

Learn more about Open Access:

UC Office of Scholarly Communication: What is Open Access?

UCLA Library Scholarly Communication: Open Access at-a-glance

UCLA Library Guide: UC Open Access Policies