Open Access: The New Frontier Connecting the Learning Commons through Hassle-free and Seamless Scholarly Communication

Abstract

The developments in technology during the recent past, especially in ICTs (information and communication tools), are tremendous and the magnitude of changes that have been effecting the scholarly communication are amazing. In reality, scholarly communication system has largely been monopolized by publishers. Publishers obtain the copyright from the author while accepting their scripts for publication, and paradoxically, the author or his/her university/institute will not have access to the article unless they have a subscription to the journal. On the other side, the spiraling costs of scholarly journals and the shrinking library budgets are of grave concern to the academic and research fraternity regardless of geographic conditions. The deprived authors/institutions are now trying out OA (Open Access) alternatives for scientific publication and communication with a view to get rid of the clutches of the publishers. The OA, as it is literally explanatory, intends seamless and free ...