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
• Hybrid Open Access
• Gold Open Access
• Diamond Open Access

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)