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.
There are two routes to Open Access publication, Gold and Green.
Green
Gold - hybrid
Gold - Open Access
University of Suffolk policy
University of Suffolk encourages the adoption of the Green route as long as it is permitted by the preferred publisher, and any embargo is compliant with the RCUK or any other relevant funding agencies. Where funds are required for APCs these should be built into any research funding bid if the publisher allows it.
What if OA is not offered by my preferred journal?
Where the publisher does not offer OA, and where there is no alternative you should still deposit a record in OARS, and try to maintain the rights of your work through the negotiation of a publication agreement.
For further information about Open Access and the University of Suffolk repository, have a look at our OA Guide.