Eurasian Journal of Humanities Research adopts the principle that providing scientific research to the public free of charge enhances the global dissemination of knowledge. Therefore, it offers immediate open access to its content. The journal is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Furthermore, the journal is a signatory of the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI).(https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/sign/signatures/?indorg=all&keyword=cumhuriyet)
(http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/)

An ancient tradition and a new technology have come together to enable an unprecedented public benefit. The ancient tradition is that of scientists and scholars publishing the results of their research in scholarly journals without financial expectation, to share knowledge freely. The new technology is the Internet. Together, they enable the global dissemination of peer-reviewed literature and allow unrestricted, free access to this literature for scientists, researchers, teachers, students, and the general public. Removing barriers to accessing scientific literature accelerates research, improves education, bridges the knowledge gap between the wealthy and the poor, enhances the utility of academic work, and fosters a shared intellectual environment across humanity.

This form of free and open online access, referred to as open access, remains limited to a small segment of journal literature. Nevertheless, numerous initiatives have demonstrated that open access is economically viable. Open access empowers readers by allowing them to find and benefit from scholarly content more effectively. For authors, it provides broader visibility and measurable impact, increasing readership and influence. In order to ensure these advantages for all, and to open access to the remaining literature, we call upon institutions and individuals to support this initiative. As the number of supporters grows, the benefits of open access will be realized more rapidly and extensively.

Scholarly literature that researchers offer to the world without expecting payment should be freely available online. This category primarily includes peer-reviewed journal articles, but also preprints—manuscripts not yet peer-reviewed but shared for feedback or to disseminate important findings among peers. There are many levels and types of broader and easier access to scholarly literature. In this declaration, open access refers to the availability of scientific literature on the Internet without financial, legal, or technical barriers—meaning it can be read, downloaded, copied, distributed, printed, searched, linked to, indexed, passed to software, and used for any lawful purpose. Authors should retain control over the integrity of their work and receive proper attribution and citation.

Even though readers may access peer-reviewed literature for free online, open access publishing is not without cost. However, experience shows that the total cost of open access is significantly lower than that of traditional distribution models. Open access not only expands the dissemination of information but also presents opportunities for cost reduction. This offers strong motivation for scholarly societies, universities, libraries, foundations, and other institutions to support open access in pursuit of their missions. Achieving open access will require new models of cost-sharing and financial mechanisms, but the substantial reduction in overall distribution costs proves that this goal is not just preferable or idealistic—it is attainable.

We recommend two complementary strategies to achieve open access to peer-reviewed scholarly literature. The first is self-archiving: researchers need tools and support to deposit their peer-reviewed journal articles into open electronic archives. When these archives comply with standards developed by the Open Access Initiative, search engines and tools can treat separate archives as one unified database, allowing users to find and access articles without knowing where they are stored. The second is the promotion of open access journals: researchers need means and encouragement to launch new journals that support open access and to transition existing journals to an open-access model. Because it is essential for scholarly articles to reach the widest possible audience, these journals will not use copyright to restrict access but rather to ensure that all published materials remain openly accessible. Since price is a barrier, such journals will not charge subscription or access fees; instead, they will rely on alternative funding sources such as grants from foundations or governments, institutional support, voluntary contributions from open access advocates, proceeds from auxiliary content, freed-up funds from canceled subscriptions, or contributions from researchers themselves. Not all disciplines or nations need to adopt the same model, and creative, alternative solutions should be encouraged.

The ultimate goal is to make peer-reviewed journal literature openly accessible. The two strategies—self-archiving and open access journals—are direct means toward this goal. Moreover, they enable scholars to share work with one another directly, without waiting for market or regulatory changes. In addition to supporting these core strategies, we encourage the development and experimentation of other methods to transition from existing distribution models to open access. Flexibility, experimentation, and adaptation to local circumstances will be the best path to ensuring a rapid, sustainable, and secure transition across various environments.

Dated: 14 February 2002
Budapest, Hungary