It has become a movement and no less everywhere around the world. It offers a lot of benefits to diverse sections of the society. Some of the key rewards are:
Accessibility: The open access publication becomes a pronounced repository of academic content because no cost imposed on the reader. Most of the times the price barrier for access is either completely removed or sometimes diminished to being negligible. Authors are at abundant advantage because their research gets to be seen by a wider audience because no cost associated for reading it. The reach of the journal increases phenomenally as no geographic or financial boundary can stop researchers from reading some research.
Quick: Because of open access the results can be seen around by everywhere without much procedures attached, so it becomes pretty much immediate not just to the people who are learned academicians but also to common people who may have an interest in the subject.
Motivating: When the results of a research are available immediately, it becomes an inspiration for others to explore the area further and it gives an opportunity to have more interdisciplinary research efforts by other researchers getting inspired and motivated by others.
Improved Citations: With open access offered in journals, you have more chances to get cited in other papers and it consequently improves the impact factor. A lot of studies have shown larger impact factor for open access journals.
Improvised search options: It is easy to locate an article that belongs to the open access domain, and more so further sharing and recommending to other becomes an easier task. With this facility, it is a great help to search and share papers around.
Better institutional visibility: More number of readers become aware of authors who publish in open access journals. Institutions are in a position to enhance their profile by being patrons of open access publications, and a lot of funding agencies can achieve more prominence.
Lesser cost: Open access publications are relatively less expensive, and it gives benefits to both journals and publishers. Sometimes, authors are expected to pay enhanced publication charges. Because if this awareness, a lot of conventional publishers have changed into open access mode, this has improved their visibility and attracted a lot of subscriptions.
So, next time when you are looking for publication of your document, attempt to consider open access journals, now that you know all the benefits associated with it.