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.

There are many types of open-accessing publishing, but these three are particularly common: green, gold, 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. Sometimes gold OA publishing requires the author of work or a funder to pay an Article Processing Charge (APC).

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.

• 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