Open access: how to ensure systematic searching?

Abstract

Open access publications are free for everyone to read and download without financial, legal or technical barriers. Various political approaches support the increasing tendency for open access publishing. Due to increasing availability of open access articles, there is a need for systematic search options related to this publication model in databases. As there are various options for searching specifically open access publications, it is important to know which sources are included in a database. This brief communication provides an overview of databases with regard to options for searching open access content in a systematic way.