The first free scientific online archive was arXiv.org, started in 1991, initially a preprint service for physicists, initiated by Paul Ginsparg.
Ameriško Združenje raziskovalnih knjižnic ("Association of Research Libraries") je med soustanovitelji Koalicije za znanstveno založništvo in akademske vire ("Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition", SPARC), ki je eden ključnih podpornikov gibanja.