Publishing Open Access

Green open access refers to making a publication freely available online by self-archiving a version of the work in a repository or website.  

Advantages of green open access include: 

• The author retains the freedom to publish in a venue of their choice. 

• Many publisher contracts already allow works to be self-archived. 

• There are no costs involved for the author. 

The disadvantage to this model is that the Open Access manuscript will be lacking the journal formatting and is not the version of record (the final published version), so it can be tricky for readers to cite and reference correctly (but you can of course make use of your researcher profiles and social media to share and promote your Open Access Author Accepted Manuscript as being the final, peer-reviewed content). Many publishers will also place an embargo on making your Author Accepted Manuscript available Open Access in a repository (often 12 months), although such embargoes can be discouraged by including a rights retention statement when submitting your manuscript to the publisher.

Gold open access refers to the free and immediate availability of the final published version of the work on the publisher’s site. True gold open access publications make all of their content freely and immediately available. 

Advantages of gold open access include: 

• No embargo period, work is made available as soon as it is published. 

• The final published version is made available. 

• Typically works are made available for reuse under a Creative Commons licence. 

The main disadvantage to the gold open access model is that, in exchange for authors retaining their rights to the work the publisher may impose a fee on the author, often referred to as an article processing charge (APC). Funding sources may cover these APCs, or a particular publication title may be covered under one of the University’s Read and Publish agreements.  

Hybrid open access refers to publications where some of the content is made available as open access while other content remains behind a paywall and is only available via subscription or individual purchase. Authors are given the option of making their work open access by paying an APC. The advantages and disadvantages for authors are the same as those for gold open access. There are however criticisms of this business model as it allows publishers to make money from both authors (via APCs) and users/libraries (via subscription charges). Some funders place restrictions on publishing grant research outputs in Hybrid journals; authors should check their funder’s Open Access policy.

Diamond open access refers to publications where there is no fee for either authors or readers. The advantage with this model is that there is no cost to the author to make the work available as open access on the publisher’s website.

The disadvantage is that, currently, many of these publications do not rank highly in traditional research impact metrics, and may not be indexed in
databases such as Web of Science and Scopus, which can impact upon discoverability and citation impact.

Creative Commons (CC) are the most widely adopted licences for Open Access, although custom licences are also employed for this purpose.  Use the Creative Commons License Chooser tool for guidance on selecting the most appropriate CC license for your work.

For software, consider one of the Open Source Initiative approved licences such as GNU or MIT.

Note that research funders and publishers may only permit certain types of OA licences.  For instance, the Australian Research Council (ARC) has a ‘preference’ for CC-BY, while the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) mandates it for research outputs they have funded. The University Open Access Policy also recommends CC-BY.

Where there are third party materials included in a publication under terms that are inconsistent with the preferred OA licence, consider listing them as exclusions under the licence or state that the licence only applies except where otherwise indicated.

The University’s Open Access Policy recommends that when signing a publishing agreement, authors should retain their right to make available an Open Access copy of their manuscript. This is particularly of issue for Author Accepted Manuscripts (AAM, the final, amended version which goes for publication) under Green Open Access. Some funding bodies also recommend rights retention or  even require it. For example, NHMRC requires all research outputs to be available Open Access immediately upon publication, meaning that rights retention must be in place when taking the Green route to OA, to discourage any publisher-imposed embargoes.

Authors can assert sharing rights over their AAM by including a rights retention statement in the manuscript that they submit to the publisher. The following wording is suggested:

“For the purposes of open access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.”

You should check whether your funder has any specific wording that you should use; for example, NHMRC has their own rights retention statement that must be included at submission when the Green route to Open Access is being taken.

A rights retention statement can be added to the acknowledgements section of your manuscript, as well as in your accompanying cover letter or note to the editor.

This approach can present challenges; for example, the journal may decide to reject a manuscript because they do not wish to agree to the embargo-free sharing of the AAM, or they may require authors to sign a publishing agreement with terms which conflict with rights retention. The NHMRC describes several scenarios (and suggests how to respond) where authors who must comply with the NHMRC Open Access Policy may encounter issues.

Please add a note when depositing your Author Accepted Manuscript in Adelaide Research & Scholarship and selecting a CC licence that you included a rights retention statement when submitting your manuscript to the publisher.

The following table summarises key points around compliance with the ARC Open Access Policy, the NHMRC’s updated Open Access Policy, and the University’s Open Access Policy. It is the responsibility of authors to read their funder’s policy in full to ensure that they are compliant.

The Library provides support and advice to help researchers make their work open access. For general open access advice and assistance, including publication agreements and questions relating to the Open Access Policy, contact your Liaison Librarian.  

• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is an independent community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals.  

• Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) aims to increase the discoverability of open access books. You can also browse the directory by publisher.    

• SHERPA RoMEO is a database of publisher open access policies that provides summaries of self-archiving permissions and conditions of rights given to authors on a journal-by-journal basis.  

• Australasian Open Access Strategy Group (AOASG) advocates to make Australasian research open and FAIR. 

• Plan S and cOAlition S - Plan S is an initiative for Open Access publishing supported by cOAlition S, whose members include research and funding organisations such as NHMRC and the World Health Organisation.