Open Access: Concepts, findings, and recommendations for stakeholders in dentistry

Abstract

Objectives: Open Access (OA) to the scientific literature, a recent revolution in scientific communication, is now required by an increasing number of funders and institutions. The aims of this narrative review are to raise awareness of OA-related concepts and recent research findings among stakeholders in dentistry and to help them make better use of OA and relevant resources.

Data sources: Published journal articles and relevant online materials.

Study selection/results: OA-related definitions and research findings, the approaches to OA, as well as its motivating factors, benefits, 'citation advantage', and mandate policies are introduced. Moreover, the phenomenon of predatory publishing and the status quo of OA in dentistry are discussed. Recommendations are made for stakeholders to avoid and address the hazards of predatory publishing, and for dental researchers to make their work OA in an appropriate manner.

Conclusions/clinical significance: Knowledge about concepts on OA, associated resources and research findings are important for researchers and other users of dental research to make full, appropriate use of OA, and help reduce the avoidable waste caused by inaccessible research. We need more studies into the use and development of OA in dentistry. In addition, joint efforts are required to eliminate the threat of predatory publishing to the dental profession.

Keywords: Bibliometrics; Dentistry; Information storage and retrieval; Narrative review; Open Access; Periodicals as topic.