Open Access and Informit

Open Access to research means free online access to the outputs of publicly funded research including journal articles, conference papers, theses, reports and many other outputs. 

At Informit we are committed to increasing equitable access to research and to supporting publishers of all sizes as they explore their options for transitioning to open access. As the largest aggregator in Australia and a not-for-profit, university-based company, Informit’s focus is on supporting a diverse and sustainable research publishing ecosystem. In the last five years we have gradually expanded our open access titles and now host over 32,000 open access records including 110 journals from publishers in Australia and New Zealand with a focus on social sciences and humanities. Open Access content on Informit is available without authentication enabling it to be discoverable and accessible anywhere by anyone. 

List of open access titles on Informit

Search our open access content on Informit 

Support for open access publishing

Support for open access to publicly funded research has been building over the last two decades and is coming from many sectors across the Australian and International community. In 2021 Australia’s Chief Scientist nominated open access as one of her key priorities and UNESCO adopted the landmark Recommendation on Open Science. Universities across Australia are developing open access policies, including Informit’s host institution, RMIT University, which adopted an open scholarship policy in July 2023. However despite this momentum, the transition to open access has been challenging for many reasons, particularly for small to medium publishers. 

Humanities and social sciences are notable for their adoption of community-led research publishing with no cost to read or publish (often referred to as Diamond open access) and Informit supports many of these journals through our discovery platform. However many of our publishing partners have not yet considered open access or lack the resources and expertise to do so and many scholarly societies and associations still rely on subscriptions to support their publishing activities. Few if any have article processing charges. 

As an aggregator supporting a large number of small to medium publishers, including many in the humanities and social sciences, Informit can play a unique role helping our content partners navigate the transition to open access over the next few years. It is critical for Australian research and innovation, for our social and economic success, that a diverse ecosystems of journals is supported along with a range of publishing models and that we maintain some national sovereignty in our research publishing system. 

Informit is keen to play its part in a national open access strategy. We believe that to ensure a diverse publishing ecosystem will require a model where institutions and funders continue to subscribe to ensure scholar-led and mission-driven publishing is sustainable and accessible for all. 

In 2023 we initiated a review of our open access approach, the models currently being adopted around the world and what our publishing partners are doing. We are also exploring how Informit can provide publishing services that better support the needs of the Australian community. More information on this will be coming soon.