Open Access (OA) is the free online availability of digital content. It is best-known and most feasible for peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly journal articles, which scholars publish without expectation of payment.
One of the major international statements on OA which includes a definition, background information and a list of signatories, is the Budapest Open Access Initiative of 2002.

Driving Force Behind Open Access

• Open Access repositories in S.A
  
• Publish your next research in...
  
• Open Access Links
  
• Open Access Journal
  
• Budapest Open Access Initiative
  
• Budapest Statement on Open Access
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Dissatisfaction at all levels!
Little wonder that even scholars at the richest universities in the world have difficulty accessing the specialized literature that they all need, while those at the poorest barely have any access at all!

Academics/Authors' their work is not even seen by all their peers, they do not receive the recognition they deserve

Copyright and Open Access
Open Access journal publishing has created a number of entirely new copyright models. These copyright models stand in contrast to the model used by traditional academic journals in which the copyright is effectively transferred from the author to the journal publisher, with only minor variations in practice. The emergence of new models is providing a wide range of choices for authors wishing to publish their work, and it is important to have some sense from academic authors as to the advantages and disadvantages of these new models.