Open Access, as defined in the Berlin Declaration, means unrestricted, online access to scholarship, including the following materials:

• peer-reviewed, scholarly research papers
• original scientific research results
• raw data and metadata
• source materials
• digital representations of pictorial and graphical materials
• and scholarly multimedia material

Ideally, scholars submit a complete version of their work and all supplemental material in an appropriate standard electronic format to an online repository that is supported and maintained by an academic institution, scholarly society, government agency, or other well-established organization that seeks to enable open access, unrestricted distribution, interoperability, and long-term archiving.

Benefits of publishing your scholarly and creative works in an Open Access repository include:

1. Accelerated Discovery
   Work published in Open Access repositories is indexed by Google, Google Scholar, and other powerful search engines, meaning other researchers find your work more quickly than through traditional publishing models.
2. Unrestricted Access
   Open Access repositories are openly and free accessible to anyone with an internet connection. This means that other researchers can download your work without paying subscription fees.
3. More Citations
   Unrestricted access and accelerated discovery often lead to increased citations. Because researchers don’t have to pay to download your work and because Open Access repositories are so widely indexed, researchers can find and download your content before traditional publishers can make your work available.
4. Fullfillment of Grant Requirements
   Some funding agencies (including the NIH) require sponsored research results to be published in an open access repository. Open Access repositories can help you meet that requirement.