The University of Iowa values transparent, replicable research, and open scholarship principles that encourage the open sharing of research outputs. Increased accessibility of research outputs facilitates collaboration, spurs the knowledge economy, strengthens scientific literacy and education, and generates broad social and public benefits. The university is committed to reducing barriers to the uptake of open scholarship practices in all disciplines. This toolkit provides the guidance and assistance UI scholars need to share the results of their research freely and openly with the public and the academic community. 

John Culshaw, Jack B. King University Librarian
John Keller, Special Assistant to the UI Executive Vice President and Provost
J. Martin Scholtz, Vice President for Research

University of Iowa Libraries supports models of open access publishing that are equitable for scholars and the general public, both at our institution and around the world. Our Statement of Open Access Support provides more information about the resources and services we provide to make more UI scholarship open access.

Open Access (OA) is the free, immediate, online availability of learning materials, research, and creative work. When we talk about OA, we typically mean journal articles and monographs that are published under an open license and are available for anyone to access and reuse, without paywalls, logins, or other barriers to access (this is sometimes called libre OA). Sometimes you might find copyrighted content that is free to read online, but this content is not openly licensed and may not be disseminated or reused without permission (This is known as gratis OA). While you can read these articles, you can't do much more than that.