Publishing

Green open access

UniSA's Open Access Policy supports green open access.

With green open access:

• Publishers allow authors to archive and make openly available the non-OA version of a research output (e.g. the accepted manuscript or pre-print) in an institutional repository (e.g. UniSA's Research Outputs Repository) or subject repository (e.g. PubMed).
• Often the cheapest form of publishing; free for authors and users.

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Gold open access

With gold open access material is 'born' Open Access. This means:

• It is free to access from the moment of publication.
• Typically, authors retain copyright, and content is made available under a Creative Commons or similar licence.
• Often requires a fee to publish (e.g. Article Processing Charge).

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Hybrid open access

• Authors decide how their research outputs are published in journals that offer both a traditional subscription model and open access publishing.
• Is based on a payment for publishing to make the publication immediately open access.
• Authors generally retain copyright if they pay for immediate OA.
• Can usually make the published version openly available straightaway in an institutional or subject repository.

Diamond open access

• Research outputs are published for free, and are free to read.
• Community or group driven journals usually institutionally supported.

Bronze open access

• Refers to publications that are available on websites hosted by their publisher, either immediately or following an embargo, but are not formally licensed for reuse or sharing, and have no open license.

Some publishers offer Read and publish agreements, which allow the cost of publishing gold open access to be covered by the Library subscription instead of UniSA authors.

For some other publishers, discounts are available for UniSA authors.

To help you choose a journal to publish in, review publisher’s policies regarding author rights to make the preprint or accepted manuscript openly available in an institutional or subject repository.

Embargoes

Some publishers may require a lengthy embargo be placed on an accepted manuscript before it can be made freely available. While this may only be a 12 month embargo, some journals may apply an embargo that lasts up to 4 years.

Some Examples of embargo periods include:

• Gender in Management (Emerald) - no embargo period
• Journal of Materials Science (Springer) - 12 months
• The Leadership Quarterly (Elsevier) - 36 months

What to consider when deciding on the credibility and quality of a journal or publisher:

• Check with colleagues or supervisors if they know the reputation of the publisher.
• Look at the website - is it well-designed, functional and informative?
• Is the journal peer reviewed?
• Where is the journal indexed e.g. in major subject databases?
• What is the journal impact factor and rank in category?
• Review published articles for quality.
• Is the journal published regularly? If not, avoid them.
• Check the editorial boards – can you easily contact editors or check their staff homepages to verify their role?
• Do they send out mass emails? If they do, avoid them

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