http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_access_publishing
Open access publishing is the publication of material in such a way that it is available to all potential users without financial or other barriers. An open access publisher is a publisher producing such material. Many types of material can be published in this manner: scholarly journals, known specifically as open access journals, magazines and newsletters, e-text or other e-books (whether scholarly, literary, or recreational), music, fine arts, or any product of intellectual activity. In this context, non-open access distribution is called "toll access" or "subscription access".
Open access can be provided by traditionally-organized publishers, or under other arrangements. With respect to scholarly material, some distribution is carried out by locally organized and subsidized publishers; an example is the production of Annals of Mathematics, produced and supported by the Princeton University Department of Mathematics and the Institute for Advanced Study. Other publishing platforms include twidox[1] which is a free, user generated online library of ‘quality’ documents that allows individuals and organisations to easily publish, share and search for them.
More normally it is a specialized publisher. Some open access publishers publish only open access material, such as PLoS; some publish open access journals as well as subscription-based material, such as BioMed Central (BMC).
The term has also been used in a wider sense to include publishers of Hybrid open access journals, which provide open access only for some article, those for which payment is made on behalf of the author.
It can similarly be used for publishers of Delayed open access journals, in which the articles are open access only after a period of embargo.
Even more loosely, the term is also used to describe publishers that permit or encourage self-archiving by authors and institutions.
http://www.cnki.com.cn/Article/CJFDTotal-TSGL200704040.htm
开放存取期刊(Open access journal,OAJ)在20世纪90年代末兴起,它是因特网上的在线出版物,免费提供给用户使用,用户只需支付上网的费用,而不必支付其他费用,它的出现给传统印本期刊带来极大的冲击。瑞典隆德大学的开放存取期刊列表(Directory of Open Access Journal,DOAJ)对开放存取期刊所下的定义是:我们把开放存取期刊定义为这样一种期刊,它采用集资的模式,不向作者或其机构收取使用费。在BOAI对开放存取的定义中,我们把“用户有阅读、下载、复制、传播、打印、检索、链接这些文献的全文”的权力作为本列表包含期刊的强制性要求〔…