Publishing Open Access

The University of Adelaide, supported by the Library, strongly encourages open access publishing. The benefits of publishing open access include: 

  • Increased reach and impact of research – which means potential increased opportunities for citation. 

  • Raising the profile of researchers and the University as a world-class research institution. 

  • Ensuring that research outputs are discoverable and available to the widest possible audience; for example, practitioners can use research for practical application, or it could be picked up by media or policy-makers, or those in industry. 

  • Being inclusive of researchers who may not have the same institutional access to get behind paywalls. 

The University’s Open Access Policy aims to achieve these objectives, mandating the deposit of research outputs into an institutional or discipline based repository. This applies to all staff, students and researchers affiliated with the University.  

The Policy preferences green open access, as this does not impose costs on researchers or the University. However, gold open access has other benefits and this route may be required by funder mandates. 

Adelaide Research & Scholarship is the preferred repository for all mandated research outputs. This includes journal articles, books, book chapters, and higher degree research theses. Other research outputs may also be deposited such as conference papers, reports and creative works. Research outputs such as posters, presentations, code and audio-visual works may be better suited to Figshare. The Copyright and Open Access Coordinator can advise on which repository would be most suitable. 

Examples of well-known discipline based repositories include arXiv for physics and PubMed Central for medicine. For a global list of open access repositories visit the Directory of Open Access Repositories  or the Open Access Directory.  Scholarly networking sites such as ResearchGate and Academia.edu are not considered to be open access repositories and do not meet the requirements of institutional or funder open access policies. 

For further information or help, please contact your Liaison Librarian

 

Different types of Open Access 

Permission rights associated with open access are typically granted through a Creative Commons  licence. The licence dictates how a work can be used and there are multiple Creative Commons licences which range in openness.  

Creative Commons have created a useful tool to help authors select the most appropriate licence.  

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 it depends on the terms of the publication agreement and/or the publisher’s policies if works can be made available. While most publishers now include provisions for green open access, they generally include restrictions on when they can be made available, which version can be made available and where, and under which terms. If the publication agreement does not allow the work to be made available on green open access it is up to the author to negotiate these rights with 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. 

Diamond open access refers to publications where there is no fee for either authors or readers. The advantage with this model 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 infrastructures to support diamond open access are still in their infancy, and publications and platforms can face operational challenges which may impact upon their ability to comply with all open access requirements.  

 

Grant funding and open access 

Many research funders have open access requirements that grant recipients must meet. Authors should always check the specific open access requirements of their funder and grant. 

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Australian Research Council (ARC)   have open access policies which grant recipients must comply with. The NHMRC policy refers specifically to peer-reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings, and strongly encourages researchers to share data and metadata arising from research it funds, and should be deposited in a well-curated, openly accessible data repository. The ARC policy covers all outputs that result from their funding. 

As of 20th September 2022, NHMRC open access policy requires research outputs awarded under NHMRC Grant Opportunity Guidelines to be made available immediately upon publication with the use of an open licence. This change in policy will be phased in for all other NHMRC grants, with full implementation by 1 January 2024. 

ARC open access policy specifies that research outputs are required to be made openly accessible within a 12-month period from the date of publication, preferably under a Creative Commons Attribution licence.   

Outputs may be made openly accessible via an institutional repository such as Adelaide Research & Scholarship, a subject repository such as PubMed Central, or via the publisher’s site. Regardless of the open access route the metadata of the output is required to be made available via an institutional repository within 3-months from publication.  

It is recommended to confirm before publication that the publisher allows the output to be made openly available via an institutional repository.  

 

Support and resources 

The Library provides support and advice to help researchers to 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. 

The University of Adelaide, supported by the Library, strongly encourages open access publishing. The benefits of publishing open access include: 

  • Increased reach and impact of research – which means potential increased opportunities for citation. 

  • Raising the profile of researchers and the University as a world-class research institution. 

  • Ensuring that research outputs are discoverable and available to the widest possible audience; for example, practitioners can use research for practical application, or it could be picked up by media or policy-makers, or those in industry. 

  • Being inclusive of researchers who may not have the same institutional access to get behind paywalls. 

The University’s Open Access Policy aims to achieve these objectives, mandating the deposit of research outputs into an institutional or discipline based repository. This applies to all staff, students and researchers affiliated with the University.  

The Policy preferences green open access, as this does not impose costs on researchers or the University. However, gold open access has other benefits and this route may be required by funder mandates. 

Adelaide Research & Scholarship is the preferred repository for all mandated research outputs. This includes journal articles, books, book chapters, and higher degree research theses. Other research outputs may also be deposited such as conference papers, reports and creative works. Research outputs such as posters, presentations, code and audio-visual works may be better suited to Figshare. The Copyright and Open Access Coordinator can advise on which repository would be most suitable. 

Examples of well-known discipline based repositories include arXiv for physics and PubMed Central for medicine. For a global list of open access repositories visit the Directory of Open Access Repositories  or the Open Access Directory.  Scholarly networking sites such as ResearchGate and Academia.edu are not considered to be open access repositories and do not meet the requirements of institutional or funder open access policies. 

For further information or help, please contact your Liaison Librarian

 

Different types of Open Access 

Permission rights associated with open access are typically granted through a Creative Commons  licence. The licence dictates how a work can be used and there are multiple Creative Commons licences which range in openness.  

Creative Commons have created a useful tool to help authors select the most appropriate licence.  

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 it depends on the terms of the publication agreement and/or the publisher’s policies if works can be made available. While most publishers now include provisions for green open access, they generally include restrictions on when they can be made available, which version can be made available and where, and under which terms. If the publication agreement does not allow the work to be made available on green open access it is up to the author to negotiate these rights with 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. 

Diamond open access refers to publications where there is no fee for either authors or readers. The advantage with this model 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 infrastructures to support diamond open access are still in their infancy, and publications and platforms can face operational challenges which may impact upon their ability to comply with all open access requirements.  

 

Grant funding and open access 

Many research funders have open access requirements that grant recipients must meet. Authors should always check the specific open access requirements of their funder and grant. 

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Australian Research Council (ARC)   have open access policies which grant recipients must comply with. The NHMRC policy refers specifically to peer-reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings, and strongly encourages researchers to share data and metadata arising from research it funds, and should be deposited in a well-curated, openly accessible data repository. The ARC policy covers all outputs that result from their funding. 

As of 20th September 2022, NHMRC open access policy requires research outputs awarded under NHMRC Grant Opportunity Guidelines to be made available immediately upon publication with the use of an open licence. This change in policy will be phased in for all other NHMRC grants, with full implementation by 1 January 2024. 

ARC open access policy specifies that research outputs are required to be made openly accessible within a 12-month period from the date of publication, preferably under a Creative Commons Attribution licence.   

Outputs may be made openly accessible via an institutional repository such as Adelaide Research & Scholarship, a subject repository such as PubMed Central, or via the publisher’s site. Regardless of the open access route the metadata of the output is required to be made available via an institutional repository within 3-months from publication.  

It is recommended to confirm before publication that the publisher allows the output to be made openly available via an institutional repository.  

 

Support and resources 

The Library provides support and advice to help researchers to 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. 

The University of Adelaide, supported by the Library, strongly encourages open access publishing. The benefits of publishing open access include: 

  • Increased reach and impact of research – which means potential increased opportunities for citation. 

  • Raising the profile of researchers and the University as a world-class research institution. 

  • Ensuring that research outputs are discoverable and available to the widest possible audience; for example, practitioners can use research for practical application, or it could be picked up by media or policy-makers, or those in industry. 

  • Being inclusive of researchers who may not have the same institutional access to get behind paywalls. 

The University’s Open Access Policy aims to achieve these objectives, mandating the deposit of research outputs into an institutional or discipline based repository. This applies to all staff, students and researchers affiliated with the University.  

The Policy preferences green open access, as this does not impose costs on researchers or the University. However, gold open access has other benefits and this route may be required by funder mandates. 

Adelaide Research & Scholarship is the preferred repository for all mandated research outputs. This includes journal articles, books, book chapters, and higher degree research theses. Other research outputs may also be deposited such as conference papers, reports and creative works. Research outputs such as posters, presentations, code and audio-visual works may be better suited to Figshare. The Copyright and Open Access Coordinator can advise on which repository would be most suitable. 

Examples of well-known discipline based repositories include arXiv for physics and PubMed Central for medicine. For a global list of open access repositories visit the Directory of Open Access Repositories  or the Open Access Directory.  Scholarly networking sites such as ResearchGate and Academia.edu are not considered to be open access repositories and do not meet the requirements of institutional or funder open access policies. 

For further information or help, please contact your Liaison Librarian

 

Different types of Open Access 

Permission rights associated with open access are typically granted through a Creative Commons  licence. The licence dictates how a work can be used and there are multiple Creative Commons licences which range in openness.  

Creative Commons have created a useful tool to help authors select the most appropriate licence.  

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 it depends on the terms of the publication agreement and/or the publisher’s policies if works can be made available. While most publishers now include provisions for green open access, they generally include restrictions on when they can be made available, which version can be made available and where, and under which terms. If the publication agreement does not allow the work to be made available on green open access it is up to the author to negotiate these rights with 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. 

Diamond open access refers to publications where there is no fee for either authors or readers. The advantage with this model 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 infrastructures to support diamond open access are still in their infancy, and publications and platforms can face operational challenges which may impact upon their ability to comply with all open access requirements.  

 

Grant funding and open access 

Many research funders have open access requirements that grant recipients must meet. Authors should always check the specific open access requirements of their funder and grant. 

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Australian Research Council (ARC)   have open access policies which grant recipients must comply with. The NHMRC policy refers specifically to peer-reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings, and strongly encourages researchers to share data and metadata arising from research it funds, and should be deposited in a well-curated, openly accessible data repository. The ARC policy covers all outputs that result from their funding. 

As of 20th September 2022, NHMRC open access policy requires research outputs awarded under NHMRC Grant Opportunity Guidelines to be made available immediately upon publication with the use of an open licence. This change in policy will be phased in for all other NHMRC grants, with full implementation by 1 January 2024. 

ARC open access policy specifies that research outputs are required to be made openly accessible within a 12-month period from the date of publication, preferably under a Creative Commons Attribution licence.   

Outputs may be made openly accessible via an institutional repository such as Adelaide Research & Scholarship, a subject repository such as PubMed Central, or via the publisher’s site. Regardless of the open access route the metadata of the output is required to be made available via an institutional repository within 3-months from publication.  

It is recommended to confirm before publication that the publisher allows the output to be made openly available via an institutional repository.  

 

Support and resources 

The Library provides support and advice to help researchers to 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. 

The University of Adelaide, supported by the Library, strongly encourages open access publishing. Providing free and unrestricted access to research publications helps to increase the impact of University research through greater discoverability and availability of output, and contributes to creating a more equitable society. 

The University of Adelaide, supported by the Library, strongly encourages open access publishing. The benefits of publishing open access include: 

  • Increased reach and impact of research – which means potential increased opportunities for citation. 

  • Raising the profile of researchers and the University as a world-class research institution. 

  • Ensuring that research outputs are discoverable and available to the widest possible audience; for example, practitioners can use research for practical application, or it could be picked up by media or policy-makers, or those in industry. 

  • Being inclusive of researchers who may not have the same institutional access to get behind paywalls. 

The University’s Open Access Policy aims to achieve these objectives, mandating the deposit of research outputs into an institutional or discipline based repository. This applies to all staff, students and researchers affiliated with the University.  

The Policy preferences green open access, as this does not impose costs on researchers or the University. However, gold open access has other benefits and this route may be required by funder mandates. 

Adelaide Research & Scholarship is the preferred repository for all mandated research outputs. This includes journal articles, books, book chapters, and higher degree research theses. Other research outputs may also be deposited such as conference papers, reports and creative works. Research outputs such as posters, presentations, code and audio-visual works may be better suited to Figshare. The Copyright and Open Access Coordinator can advise on which repository would be most suitable. 

Examples of well-known discipline based repositories include arXiv for physics and PubMed Central for medicine. For a global list of open access repositories visit the Directory of Open Access Repositories  or the Open Access Directory.  Scholarly networking sites such as ResearchGate and Academia.edu are not considered to be open access repositories and do not meet the requirements of institutional or funder open access policies. 

For further information or help, please contact your Liaison Librarian

 

Different types of Open Access 

Permission rights associated with open access are typically granted through a Creative Commons  licence. The licence dictates how a work can be used and there are multiple Creative Commons licences which range in openness.  

Creative Commons have created a useful tool to help authors select the most appropriate licence.  

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 it depends on the terms of the publication agreement and/or the publisher’s policies if works can be made available. While most publishers now include provisions for green open access, they generally include restrictions on when they can be made available, which version can be made available and where, and under which terms. If the publication agreement does not allow the work to be made available on green open access it is up to the author to negotiate these rights with 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. 

Diamond open access refers to publications where there is no fee for either authors or readers. The advantage with this model 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 infrastructures to support diamond open access are still in their infancy, and publications and platforms can face operational challenges which may impact upon their ability to comply with all open access requirements.  

 

Grant funding and open access 

Many research funders have open access requirements that grant recipients must meet. Authors should always check the specific open access requirements of their funder and grant. 

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Australian Research Council (ARC)   have open access policies which grant recipients must comply with. The NHMRC policy refers specifically to peer-reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings, and strongly encourages researchers to share data and metadata arising from research it funds, and should be deposited in a well-curated, openly accessible data repository. The ARC policy covers all outputs that result from their funding. 

As of 20th September 2022, NHMRC open access policy requires research outputs awarded under NHMRC Grant Opportunity Guidelines to be made available immediately upon publication with the use of an open licence. This change in policy will be phased in for all other NHMRC grants, with full implementation by 1 January 2024. 

ARC open access policy specifies that research outputs are required to be made openly accessible within a 12-month period from the date of publication, preferably under a Creative Commons Attribution licence.   

Outputs may be made openly accessible via an institutional repository such as Adelaide Research & Scholarship, a subject repository such as PubMed Central, or via the publisher’s site. Regardless of the open access route the metadata of the output is required to be made available via an institutional repository within 3-months from publication.  

It is recommended to confirm before publication that the publisher allows the output to be made openly available via an institutional repository.  

 

Support and resources 

The Library provides support and advice to help researchers to 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. 

The University’s Open Access Policy aims to achieve these objectives, mandating the deposit of research outputs into Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S). This applies to all staff, students and researchers affiliated with the University.

Blue filing cabinets in various stages of being opened

Mandated research outputs include peer-reviewed journal articles, peer-reviewed conference papers, books, book chapters, higher degree research theses, and Non-Traditional Research Outputs (NTRO). Other research outputs are recommended to be deposited, although some outputs such as posters, presentations, and audio-visual works may be better suited to Figshare.

Advice on depositing research outputs in AR&S can be found in the Adelaide Research & Scholarship: Repository Submission Guidelines.

For further information or help, please contact your Liaison Librarian.

  • Green 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

    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

    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

    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.

  • Choosing an open access licence

    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.

  • Rights retention

    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.

  • Grant funding and open access

    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.

      Routes to OA CC-BY licence? Rights retention Timing of OA availability
    ARC Policy Green or Gold Recommended Recommends that authors retain their rights to make available as Open Access Output must be made Open Access within 12 months of publication (the metadata must be made openly available within 3 months)
    NHMRC Policy Green or Gold Required Requires rights retention of Author Accepted Manuscript or Version of Record, and CC-BY licence must be used Immediately upon publication (without embargo)
    University Open Access Policy Green or Gold Recommended Authors should made "reasonable attempts" to retain rights to self-archive and make available Open Access

    Within three months of publication, or earlier if required by funder. Authors are encouraged to avoid embargoes on the full text of more than 12 months.

  • Support and resources

    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.