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Copyright: Open Access & Publishing

This guide provides information on copyright infromation, and the reuse of third party materials.

Open Access

What is Open Access?

Open Access is the provision of freely available, unrestricted access to online research outputs. Open Access materials generally include peer reviewed journal articles, conference papers, scholarly monographs and research data. If research has been made available as Open Access it means that the author, or copyright holder, has given consent for it to be freely accessed to anyone with an internet connection. There are two routes to open access publishing - the green route and the gold route.

Routes to Open Access

There are two routes to Open Access publication, Gold and Green.

 

Green

  • research is published in a subscription based journal
  • journal permits deposit of full text, final peer-reviewed version into repository
  • there may be an embargo which may conflict with funder requirements and could impact REF eligibility

Gold - hybrid

  • research is published in a subscription based journal which has an OA element
  • full text is made available via the publisher's site immediately
  • full text may be deposited, and there is usually no embargo*
  • APCs may be charged and typically cost between £400 and £3500

Gold - Open Access

  • research is published in a journal which is fully open access
  • full text is made available via the publisher's site immediately
  • full text may be deposited, and there is usually no embargo*
  • APCs may be charged and typically cost between £400 and £3500

*Sometimes publishers will specify embargo periods even for Gold outputs, but this is unusual

University of Suffolk policy

University of Suffolk recognises that the Gold route will often provide the easiest method of adhering to OA policy compliance, and for ensuring eligibility for future REF exercises .  Where the Green route is the only option, and an embargo is specified by the publisher, a rights retention strategy can be applied to potentially bypass compliance issues. Where funds are required for APCs these should be built into any research funding bid if the publisher allows it (these would usually fall within the Dissemination section of a Full Economic Costing document).

Further information around APC funding is available here

OA routes

Further information

For further information about Open Access and the University of Suffolk repository, have a look at our OA Guide.