With 94% of US graduate students reportedly using search engines such as Google to perform research tasks, compared to just 18% using databases like EBSCO and 17% using electronic textbooks , the effect of the internet on the future of research cannot be underestimated.

The Open Access movement, which began in 2002, links the tradition whereby researchers provide their work to publishers free of charge ‘for the sake of inquiry and knowledge’ with new technology, to revolutionise scholarly publishing and the ways in which research may be disseminated, discovered and used.

For many, this raises concerns over intellectual property and copyright, whilst for others it provides new opportunities to reach a wider audience and collaborate on a global scale. This presentation will provide an opportunity to better understand the reasons behind the Open Access movement, and explore its impact on the research process. This will include a discussion of the positive and negative effects, the ways in which Open Access can be achieved, government initiatives and responses from research stakeholders that may affect the future of scholarly publishing.