The rhetoric within this JISC promotion of Open Access is a little naive (ie. as if researchers haven’t always communicated their research results), but still there is some good information here about JISC’s initiatives. Also, check out the podcast by Harvard Historian Robert Darnton (link).
Opening the knowledge base to all means more researchers can build on it and there is less duplication of effort. Researchers can reach a greater audience and find that their work is more widely read and cited, institutions gain an enhanced reputation as their research becomes more visible, funding agencies see a greater return on their investment, and publishers find that the impact of their journals increases (link).
