Open Access Square

The open access square icon provides a compact variant of the barrier-free research symbol optimized for grid layouts and standardized interface designs. This squared version maintains the recognizable unlocked padlock design while fitting seamlessly into structured layouts requiring uniform icon dimensions across institutional repositories and academic platforms.

In repository interfaces and journal platform designs, the square variant appears in article metadata grids alongside other access status icons creating visual consistency. Discovery systems display this icon in search result listings, while library portals use it in catalog browse interfaces where multiple status indicators need uniform sizing for professional presentation across diverse scholarly communication ecosystems.

From a visual design perspective, the square format communicates more than just branding adaptation - it specifically signals integration within structured metadata displays, compatibility with grid-based access status systems, and the standardization of publication status representations. This formatting distinction helps designers maintain visual hierarchy while preserving open-access movement recognition across academic and institutional interfaces.

Open Access Square is one of 158 icons in Academicons, made by James Walsh and released under Open Font License. It is drawn on a 448 × 512 grid.

Sign in (it's free), then open Get icon, Install with shadcn CLI, and pick your package manager to copy the command. It adds OpenAccessSquareIcon to components/icons/academicons-open-access-square.tsx: one file, a size prop (24 by default) and every SVG prop, with no icon package.

Copy it as React (from Get icon, or the Code section): a typed OpenAccessSquareIcon component you paste into your project, with no package to install. Only the icons you import reach your bundle. It works in Next.js and any React app.

Open Get icon, then Copy as code, and pick Vue, Svelte, Angular, Solid or Preact; the Code section shows each one too. Every version is one self-contained component with the SVG inside, and SVG and data URL copies are there for plain HTML and CSS.

With Pro, the shadcn.io MCP server lets Claude Code, Cursor or any MCP client find the Open Access Square icon, or any of 158 Academicons icons, and install it from a prompt.

It's drawn in currentColor, so it takes the text color wherever you use it: a class like text-primary recolors it. To bake a color in, set one in Customize before you copy.

Set width and height on the component, or a class like size-6. It's drawn on a 448 × 512 grid, so it stays sharp at any size. Customize also sets the size it exports at, its padding and rotation.

Yes. It follows the text color, so with text-foreground (or any theme token) it changes with your light and dark themes. The icon is a vector, so it needs no separate dark asset.

Next to a visible label it's decoration: add aria-hidden="true" so screen readers skip it. Standing alone, as in an icon button, give the button a name instead, like aria-label="Open Access Square", so screen readers say what it does.

Yes. OpenAccessSquareIcon passes every SVG prop to the svg element, so <OpenAccessSquareIcon aria-hidden="true" /> works, and so do role="img" with aria-label, or a title child, when it carries meaning on its own.

Yes. Open Get icon, then Download file: SVG for code or design tools like Figma; PNG, WebP or JPEG at 512px; or an ICO favicon with 16, 32 and 48px inside. Each one uses what you set in Customize.

Yes. The Open Font License allows commercial use; the icons can't be sold on their own. The full terms are in the license, linked on this page.

No visible credit is required: Open Font License only asks that you keep the license notice if you ship the icons' source files. Icons installed with the shadcn CLI already start with a comment naming Academicons, James Walsh and the license.

Yes. Copying and downloading it is free, and the shadcn CLI install only needs a free account.

Its tags are research, square, publishing, free and unlocked. Each tag page lists the icons that carry it from every library, which is the quickest way to find a match for Open Access Square in another set.