Scholarly Communication

Open access information is freely available online and can be used without concern of licensing restrictions. For more information, read Peter Suber's A Very Brief Introduction to Open Access.

• Your work is available on the open web and not behind a database paywall, so more people can read it and potentially more people will cite it
• Greater potential to find research collaborators
• Your funding agency may require you to make your work available open access
• Enhance public access to research

• Submit manuscripts to quality open-access journals in your field. Check the Directory of Open Access Journals.
• Self-deposit your published works in an institutional repository (ISU ReD) or disciplinary repository (check the Directory of Open Access Repositories)
• If you have an article published in a subscription journal, you may be able to make it open access for a fee, often called an Article Processing Charge (APC)
• There may be an arrangement between Milner Library and the publisher of your journal to make your article Open Access

There are many types of open-accessing publishing, but these three are particularly common: green, gold, platinum/diamond, and hybrid.

Green open access works are versions of previously published works that have been self-archived in an open-access repository, such as ISU ReD or arXiv.org. Depending on rights retained by the author and the publisher's policies, work versions could be pre-prints (prior to peer review), post-prints (after peer review but before publisher layout and typesetting), or the publisher PDF/version of record (final version that appears in publication). Check the publisher's policies for each work before self-archiving, or ask a librarian for help.

Gold open access works--such as journal articles, books, and book chapters--are originally published open access. Typically gold OA publishing requires the author of work or a funder to pay an Article Processing Charge (APC).

Platinum/Diamond open access works are originally published open access but do not require payment from authors or readers. These journals are often sponsored by an institution or organization who bears any operational costs.

Hybrid open access works are single articles that are published in a subscription journal but are made open access through a fee. The author or a funder pays the Article Processing Charge (APC). You may be able to pay an APC through grant funding, or contact your department to see if funds are available.