Open Access publishing refers to any kind of publishing model which shares the final published version of research openly, free of charge to readers, under an open licence.
The most common types of Open Access publishing are:
This refers to a journal where the entire contents of a journal is free to read. This model often relies on charging authors Article Processing Charges (APCs) in return for managing the peer review and editorial processes, as well as production and ongoing preservation costs for the final published work (Version of Record).
You can search for Gold OA journals using the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).
You can search for Gold OA books using the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) or the Online library of open access books (OAPEN).
This model is free to read and free to publish. They are usually funded by non-profit organisations, research institutions or government agencies.
For journals, use the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). You can filter by 'without article processing charges' to see only those which do not charge a fee to publish.
This model is a half way house between a traditional subscription model and the Gold OA model. Authors can make their work Open Access in exchange for an APC, or, if they do not have funding available to cover the APC, their work will be published behind a paywall instead.
In recent years, funders have been withdrawing support for hybrid publishing. In some cases, they have restricted block grant funding to pay for Gold OA and will only pay for hybrid journals if a suitable transformative agreement is in place. Birmingham Newman University has signed up to a number of transformative agreements which offer our researchers the chance to publish free of charge or at a discounted rate. To find out more, check out our current transformative agreements.
New models for publishing open access are emerging which aim to change the way that research is shared. They often break down the research life-cycle into its constituent parts.
There are some free services, for example Octopus which breaks the research record down into eight modules, allowing authors to gain credit at all stages of the research process.
Another example of an Open Platform is F1000 research. In this case authors are charged to post their work on the platform, although generally the fee is much less than the cost of a full APC. The platform then manages an open peer review process where reviewers are invited to comment on the work. Revisions are hosted on the platform, and once it has passed through the peer review stage the final published version is available for anybody to read. Birmingham Newman University has a current agreement with Taylor and Francis which also covers F1000 research, which entitles researchers to publish free of charge. To find out more check out our current transformative agreements.
Last reviewed: 28 May 2024
