Break

This is a time for you to get some refreshment and clear your mind a little in preparation for the next part of the workshop.

How does Open Access work?

Overview

Teaching: 20 min
Exercises: 10 min
Objectives

  • Understand different kinds of Open Access publishing models

Four models

There are four models of Open Access publishing, roughly forming a rough hierarchy from worst to best:

Green Open Access

Green Open Access means that the author is responsible for ensuring open access to the publication. This usually means that the author and the journal have to agree that the author has the right to do this, which often comes with some restrictions, for example an embargo period.^[Many funders no longer permit these embargo periods in their Open Access requirements.] Some mechanisms for ensuring open access achieve Green Open Access by rights retention mechanisms – the authors deliberately reserve rights when dealing with journals, or the university, funder, etc. establishes a prior claim to the work that prevents authors signing the rights away for publication.

Green Open Access entails finding a place to store the publication (and publicising its existence!) – something the journal usually does for you. This can mean using a repository service, perhaps a preprinting service or a university research archive, or it can mean publishing on your personal website. Often, journals will claim the rights to the final typeset version of a manuscript and will only allow an unformatted version to be shared using Green Open Access.

Hybrid Open Access

Hybrid Open Access is Gold Open Access (see below) in journals that also publish normal, non-open access content. Universities sometimes offer read-and-publish arrangements with Hybrid journals that allow their researchers to read non-Open Access content and to publish Open Access articles with the journal.

Gold Open Access

Gold Open Access means that the journal makes the final version of the article available immediately, for free, to anyone, under a CC-BY license. The journal will charge you, the author, for this service. This fee is known as an ‘article processing charge’ or APC. These fees are usually in the region of £2000 per article.

Many funders, including UKRI funders, the British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK, and Wellcome, require Gold Open Access. Many funders that require Gold Open Access will not allow publication in Hybrid Open Access journals.

Diamond Open Access

Diamond Open Access is Gold Open Access without charging the authors an APC. This model is usually supported by a consortium or institution and is worth supporting where it is possible to do so.

Can I…? 10 min

For each item, try to work out if it applies to Green, Hybird, Gold, and Diamond Open Access models.

  • Articles are peer reviewed before publication
  • Authors get to choose from any journal
  • The journal provides free, unrestricted access to the article
  • The journal charges the authors a fee for publication
  • An enhanced version of the article is available under restricted access terms

Key Points

  • Green Open Access means you place a copy in a public repository (sometimes after a delay)

  • Gold Open Access means the journal makes it available free (usually for a cost to you)

  • Diamond Open Access means the journal makes it available for free (and doesn’t charge you)

Implementing into your workflow

Overview

Exercises: 30 min

Finding journals 30 min

Most researchers have a hierarchy of journals they target for publishing. Take 30 minutes to go through your list and identify their open access policy. Draw up a table that looks like this:

Rank Journal name Journal OA Policy notes
1    
2    
3    
4    
5    

Key Points

  • Registered Reports can commit to open access publishing at an early stage.

  • Most projects will look to open access publishing at the end, when approaching journals.

Publishing OA at Bristol

Overview

Teaching: 20 min

Submission

Where you can submit, and how the Open Access costs are paid, depends on who has funded your work.

Everyone

Everyone needs to

UKRI funded research

UKRI funded research must be published Open Access. APCs can be covered; apply via the library.

Wellcome funded research

Wellcome funded research must be published Open Access. APCs can be covered; apply via the library.

Article submissions should include a Rights Retention Statement – see your funder’s policy for details.

Horizon Europe funded research

Horizon Europe funded research Open Access APCs are paid for from your grant. Article submissions should include a Rights Retention Statement – see your funder’s policy for details.

Acceptance

Everyone

When your article is accepted, upload it to Pure.

UKRI, Wellcome, and Horizon Europe funded research

See above for how to pay APCs.

If your funder requires it (Wellcome, Horizon Europe, MRC, BBSRC) deposit a copy of your research in Europe PMC.

Wellcome and Horizon Europe funded research

Ensure the Rights Retention Statement you included during submission remains on your publication. Journals have been known to remove them during copyediting.

Publication

When your article is published make sure you:

Getting help

You can get help with this process in several ways:

Key Points

  • Upload copies to Pure for Green Open Access

  • Finding funds for Gold and Hybrid Open Access

New Lesson

Overview

Teaching: 10 min
Exercises: 20 min

The text of your lesson will go here. It can make use of markdown formatting, as well as the special callout zones in The Carpentries’ template.

Break

This is a time for you to get some refreshment and clear your mind a little in preparation for the next part of the workshop.

Template

Why publish open access?

Overview

Exercises: 30 min

What is Open Access

Open Access means that readers have free, unrestricted access to published research outputs.

Why choose Open Access?

Enumerating the benefits 5 min

In small groups, try to think of reasons people publish academic work. In what ways might open access help achieve these goals? Using the collaborative notes document, jot down any ideas you come up with, so that we have an overall list at the end.

Ideas

Some reasons that are commonly cited are:

  • We publish because we want people to know what we’ve done
  • We want people to be able to build on our work
  • We want to get credit for our work
  • Open Access publishing is a requirement for advancing our careers
  • Open Access is required by our university, funder, etc.
  • We want people outside academia to access our work (policy makers, charities, industry, etc.)

Considering the concerns 5 min

In the same groups, try to think of reasons people might hesitate to publish their work openly. Again, use the collaborative notes document to jot down any ideas you come up with.

Ideas

Some reasons that are commonly cited are:

  • People might find mistakes in my work
  • People might misunderstand my work
  • It takes time to write papers in a way that is suitable for people outside my field to understand
  • Publishing open access is too expensive
  • People could use my work for purposes I don’t agree with
  • I worked hard to collect these data and I don’t want non-academics to benefit from my work
  • I want to start a business based on my work and I want to keep an advantage over other companies

Your experiences 10 min

Now we have listed some benefits and concerns of open access publishing, go around your small group and have each group member identify two items that they have experience with. You can choose a benefit and a concern, or two benefits or even two concerns. For each one, share your experience of it with your colleagues. If you have time, add a brief note about your experience to the collaborative notes document, but the focus should be on sharing with your colleagues and listening to what they have to say.

Addressing concerns 10 min

We have a list of concerns that people in your workshops might have. It’s helpful to be able to provide some perspective on those concerns – we want to acknowledge that publishing openly can be frightening or difficult, but highlight that it is worth doing anyway!

Again, in your group, choose two of the concerns. If they are concerns you have or have had yourself, that’s ideal, but they could also be ones that you just find interesting. Go around the group, discussing each person’s concerns. Try to think of reasons why the concern should not hold you back from open access publishing. If you can’t think of anything, try asking the larger group or one of the workshop instructors or helpers.

Remember, it’s not wrong to have concerns! We believe that open access publishing is important and that the benefits outweigh the concerns, and we’d like to help you understand why and give you any encouragement you need.

Key Points

  • Open access means your work can be more widely read

  • Greater scrutiny from more experts

  • Enables researchers from the global South to contribute more easily

  • Helps shape academic publishing towards a commons-based community