So far, many academic journals are only available through educational institutions and by subscription, but in the recent years, there has been a tremendous increase in the availability of free online journals. Numerous open access resources have been developed in the fields of arts, humanities, finance, and science and technology to enable worldwide free access to information and knowledge. The open access initiative has paved the way to free online journals, open access books and monographs, and other scholarly literature for the benefit of aspiring researchers, scholars, and scientists.

Researchers typically use free search engines like Google Scholar to search for articles, which significantly benefits the open access system as all of its contents are free to access online. Within the last few years, there has been a considerable increase in the peer-reviewed research articles published by emerging open access online-only publishers as well as many traditional publishers switching over to the open access system.

Availability of free online journals has not only benefited researchers and university administrators but also has created a positive impact on policy makers and funding agencies. For researchers, who are both authors and readers of scholarly literature, open access resources have improved the visibility and impact of their research by providing immediate and free access to all the literature they need for research. In the case of university administrators, implementation of open access institutional repositories has allowed them to assess and monitor research programs undertaken at the university, thereby making the research more visible. Policy makers and funding agencies are interested in open access because it ensures that the investments have had the widest possible dissemination and uptake of knowledge, especially if it is a publicly funded research agency. Open access system enables the public with free online access to the peer-reviewed scientific research funded by governments.