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Library - Researcher Visibility and Impact: Open Access Publishing

What is Open Access (OA)?

Open Access (OA) makes research freely available online, removing paywall barriers and allowing anyone to read, download, and share it. OA research is more discoverable through search engines like Google Scholar, often leading to higher download rates, more citations, and broader engagement from both academic and non-academic audiences. Greater visibility not only amplifies your individual research impact but also enhances UJ’s global scholarly profile.

Benefits for Researchers

  • Increases readers’ ability to find and use relevant literature
  •  Increases the visibility, readership and impact of authors' works
  • Creates new avenues for discovery in the digital environment
  •  Enhances interdisciplinary research
  •  Accelerates the pace of research, discovery and innovation

Why Open Access Publishing?

   

Benefits for the Public

  • Greater access to research outputs without the often prohibitive costs associated with traditional publishing.
  • Greater access to academic research findings for those researchers, academic and professional, who work outside academia (or in smaller institutions) who would not otherwise have straightforward access to those findings.
  • Ensures that those who actually provide the money for publicly-funded research (i.e. tax-payers) have access to the outputs they have funded.

UJ Open Journal System (OJS)

UJ OJS (Open Journal Systems) is the University of Johannesburg’s platform for hosting and publishing open access scholarly journals. It supports the entire editorial workflow—from submission and peer review to publication—making research outputs freely accessible online.

Publishing through UJ OJS increases the visibility of articles by ensuring they are openly available to a global audience and indexed by major search engines and scholarly databases. This open access model expands readership, boosts citations, and strengthens the reach and reputation of both authors and journals.