Imagine a Wikipedia where everyone can check their sources.
Wikipedia is a first stop for researchers, students and those looking for reliable information. Let's make it better! #1lib1ref engaged librarians in the process of adding one reference to Wikipedia because any citation to a reliable source is a benefit to Wikipedia readers worldwide. Now, we want to make as many of these references as possible Open Access. When you add a reference to the article, make sure to include the hashtag #OAWiki in the edit summary so that we can track participation.
How do you do an OA search?
Open Access implies that the work is freely available to all. But not all OA is created equal, and some journals that have an OA policy may only apply that policy to some of their materials. PLOS, SPARQ, and Copernicus Publications (with OASPA) created the Open Access Spectrum Evaluation tool to identify just how open a journal is. For academic journals, the tool is a starting point.
The resources listed below provide direct access to many OA journals and articles, but if they don't lead to success, you may want to try the following:
Look for a website for the author. Often, authors may provide their work OA on their own website, even if it is behind a paywall in a journal
Do a Google search for the article (or a Google Scholar search). It's possible you will find it that way.
Look for the open access icon
And, remember, just because an article is accessible, it does not mean that there are no copyright issues. If you have concerns, check out this page on copyright and OA
Finally, and sadly, a slew of "fake" journals that do not ensure reliability or validity have sprung up. So, you also want to make sure you are not linking to one of those.
Looking for OA resources to help you in your citation search? Look no further.