Open access seeks to make scientific literature free for readers; however, several obstacles prevent students and scholars from receiving all the benefits it offers. One of these is the lack of information literacy, which is the ability to locate, evaluate, and use information effectively. This essay will explain why the lack of these skills is an obstacle to open access and how this condition excludes students and scholars.

These two groups do not always develop sufficient informational skills, so they make mistakes when accessing and using academic information, which limits the benefits they can receive from open access. Among these cases are, for example, the uncritical use of Google Scholar, the lack of knowledge when using digital scholarly tools or when conducting searches on academic search engines, the sharing of academic papers on academic social networks with disregard for copyright, and the publication in predatory journals.

To address these issues, universities can implement or improve information literacy programs, so they promote open access while ensuring that their communities enjoy the virtues of free access to scholarly literature.

1. information literacy
2. open access
3. open scholarship

This essay obtained second place in the Latin American Open Access Essay Competition 2020, in the category Students, academics, and Open Access. The contest was organized by Organized by UNESCO, UAEMéx, AmeliCa, CLACSO and Redalyc. The published version in Spanish can be accessed at page 43 here.