Constructing the structure underlying open access practices

Abstract

This article applies a structuralist perspective to examine open access (OA) practices. Anthropologist Lévi-Strauss’s culinary triangle model is adopted to streamline a whole OA process from repository content accumulation to OA article consumption. By constructing the conceptual relationship of three OA activities, namely archiving, searching and citation, the article argues that content accumulation constitutes the success of the OA movement. The OA process is perceived as a continuum along which each type of scholar’s activity has an impact on, and is also influenced by, other activities. Constructing the structure underlying OA practices will help better recognize the history, present status and future direction of the open access movement.