What is open access? and What is peer reviwed?

What is open access?
Open Access means that unrestricted on-line access to articles revealed in academic journals. This is often achieved by research results either being published in Open Access journals, which provides free access for everybody, or by uploading research and making it available through open publishing archives. (Original text from openaccess.no.)
Useful for?
Researchers: Their research can be spread wider, and they can access other people's research more easily.
Funding institutions can achieve a bigger return on investments.
Knowledge companies gain free access to state of the art research.
Professionals such as health personell or lawyers, or privat persons with an academic interest, will be able to keep up to date more easily.
Research institutions will be able to collect their publications in electronic archives and spread the research of their employees. (text from openaccess.no.)
Which advantages can Open Access give you as a researcher?
Research results which are freely accessible online have a proven citation advantage over results which can only be found in subscription based channels. All research is based on previous results, and by making research more widely available, faster, will make research work more effective and prevent duplication. Open Access can also benefit the society in general. Professionals outside the academic world, for example in the health sector or in knowledge intensive companies, will benefit greatly from better access to scientific information (text from openaccess.no.).
What is peer reviwed?
In academic publishing, the aim of the peer review is to assess the quality of articles submitted for publication in a scholarly journal. Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people of similar competence to the producers of the work (peers). It constitutes a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards of quality, improve performance, and provide credibility. In academia, scholarly peer review is often used to determine an academic paper's suitability for publication (text from openaccess.no.). Reviewers play a central role in scholarly publishing. Peer review helps validate research, establish a method by which it can be evaluated, and increase networking possibilities within research communities.
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