Open Access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which publications are distributed online, free of cost or other access barriers, for non-commercial purposes.

• Typically, the OA status is applied to scholarly research and is initiated by the authors of the research for its distribution via the Internet.
• OA publications are produced with the intent of having reduced or removed barriers to copying or reuse by applying an "open license" or "free license" for copyright.
• Types of OA statuses are sometimes applied to other forms of media such as software, music, images, videos, etc.
• Note: Not everything you find on the Internet is Open Access! 
  • In most cases copyright laws or commercial licenses prohibit unauthorized distribution and reproduction of content!