1. What is ‘Open Access’ ?
    Open access refers to unrestricted access via the Internet to articles published in scholarly journals, book chapters or monographs.

    More information links from Directory of Open Access Journals :

  2. Why authors should make their articles ‘Open Access’ ?
    The main reason authors make their articles openly accessible is to maximize their research impact. A growing number of studies have confirmed, that an Open Access article is more likely to be used and cited than one behind subscription barriers. Open access helps researchers as readers by opening up access to articles that their libraries do not subscribe to. One of the great beneficiaries of open access may be users in developing countries,where currently some universities find it difficult to pay for subscriptions required to access the most recent journals.
  3. Why does Open Access articles have article-processing charges?
    For Synergy Publishers, publishing research content in open access is not possible without incurring production expenses. The article processing charges are collected because readers do not have to pay subscription charges, as a result the published research content is available with immediate, barrier-free and world-wide open access in full text.

    The article processing charges pay for:

    • immediate world-wide unrestricted open access to the full text.
    • prodcution costs involed in editorial management and use of electronic tools for peer review and publication.
    • marketing and promotion activities to increase citations .
    • maintaining inclusion in CrossRef to ensure electonic citations in other journals.
    • production of manuscripts in various formats for online publication delivery.
  4. Is it possible to waive / to get discounts on the open access charges if the author is not able pay?
    Waiver requests are considered on a case to case basis. Individual waiver or discount requests may be considered after internal editorial approval. As per policy and editorial recommendation authors may be able to get a discount / waiver on article processing charges.