Book excerpt: Open access publishing can be used as a strategic tool to avail access to information and achieve universal literacy. Open access has gained importance over the past 15 years by making knowledge available to all, without any barrier of affordability or restrictions on using this knowledge to inform and develop. Open access contributes to scientific research excellence, disseminates research results to a wider community, and promotes multi-disciplinary and collaborative research. Issues of sustainable development and open access are major concerns in librarianship and information management, particularly as the international library and information management community is focusing on how to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. Open Access Implications for Sustainable Social, Political, and Economic Development is a pivotal reference source that provides an understanding of the concept of open access within the context of social, political, and economic development and deliberates the critical issues and challenges that face the implementation of open access and its impact on the global economy and sustainable development. While highlighting a broad range of topics including digital scholarship, open data, and ethics, this book is ideally designed for librarians, information science professionals, government officials, policymakers, academicians, researchers, and students.