Library Research Support Services

Gold

Gold is a business model that moves the costs of publishing from the reader/reader's institution at the point of requiring read-access, to the author/author's institution prior to publication.  A 'fully Gold' title or platform should have no read/subscriber fees (paywalls) which means it is only possible to publish in such a venue if the costs of publishing (known as an APC - Article Processing Charge) in that journal can be covered.

Cost

This route carries a cost - fees are wide ranging depending on publisher. 

• Read & Publish agreements: The University has a number of Read & Publish agreements which sometimes cover the cost of publishing in publishers' fully Gold titles.  Please note, coverage in fully Gold titles is not a feature of every agreement.
• There is no dedicated UoP fund for Open Access publishing in fully Gold journals if not covered by existing agreements.
• UKRI funded authors: the University has been awarded a grant to cover the costs of publishing in fully Gold venues.  (This fund is not permitted for 'hybrid' titles - see the Hybrid definition!)
• You should not submit to a fully Gold journal or platform unless you know the costs can be covered.

Licence

All articles in fully Gold venues should be licenced CC-BY and not any other CC licence.  Copyright should always be the Author and not the Publisher. 

• Licencing advice

Hybrid

Hybrid is a business model which legacy paywalled/subscription journal publishers have adopted in recent years.  They continue to charge institutions annual subscriptions yet will also accept a Gold Open Access fee (known as an APC - Article Processing Charge) for individual articles.  Therefore, an individual issue of a journal can comprise both paywalled and open articles on the publisher site.  

Cost

This route carries a cost - Publishers receiving dual income and increased profits from subscriptions and APCs have resulted in funders refusing to cover Open APC payments in hybrid titles unless they adapt business models.  Transformative (Read & Publish) deals are an evolution which funders will support. 

• Read & Publish agreements: The University has a number of Read & Publish agreements to cover the costs of Open publishing across some publishers' hybrid titles. 
• There is no dedicated UoP fund for Open Access publishing in hybrid journals if not covered by existing agreements.
• Funder advice: certain funders will not pay for open APC fees in certain hybrid journals
• Please contact the library prior to submission if you are funded to confirm your chosen journal is compliant with your funder: openresearch@plymouth.ac.uk

Licence

All articles published Gold open access in Hybrid venues should be licenced CC-BY and not any other CC licence.  Copyright should always be the Author and not the Publisher. 

• Licencing advice

Diamond

Diamond is a form of publisher Open Access that carries no cost to the reader or author.  Examples of Diamond Open Access are University Presses or locally hosted journals such as UoP's Plymouth Student Scientist or not-for-profit models such as Open Library of Humanities.  Funders are investing in Diamond OA publishing initiatives which can support a healthier, more financially sustainable publishing ecosystem for the future.  

Cost

There is no cost to Open Access publishing for authors through the Diamond route.  The article will be Open on the publisher platform and costs are met though consortia funded business models. 

Licence

Diamond OA publishing fully supports Open Access drivers and should ensure that such work is licenced CC-BY and is copyright of the author.

• Licencing advice

Green

Green is a way to achieve open access through repositories and is a no cost route to openness.  Authors will publish behind a paywall in the traditional way and self-archive (or 'deposit') a copy of the peer-reviewed, Author's Accepted Manuscript into an institutional or subject repository.  

• REF: Green open access is the current REF Open Access policy
• PEARL: UoP's institutional repository
• Pure: UoP authors submit to PEARL via Pure
• Green OA can be even more discoverable than Gold as repositories are harvested by more search engines

Cost

There is no cost to authors to publish green open access.

Licence

Authors' Accepted Manuscripts are usually deposited under licence from the publisher i.e. deposited in repositories permitted by publishers, subject to an embargo on access (usually a few months) and must carry a link back to the version of record. 

Increasingly, funders are encouraging authors to retain the rights of these manuscripts in order that authors can make green open access deposits immediately open and licenced CC-BY for maximum re-use.  Therefore, authors may need to negotiate with their publisher the retention of these rights upon submission. 

• Licencing advice

Bronze

Bronze is a type of Open Access that does not adhere to agreed definitions of Open Access and is not compliant with funder policies.  The publisher may decide to make your article open but they will retain the rights and can remove the open access/restrict use of the open content as they wish.  Full open access (Gold/Diamond) on the publisher site should always carry a CC-BY licence that is copyright of the Author.  

Cost

There should not be no cost to bronze OA as this is not a route that guarantees long term access and reuse of the work - do not pay for bronze OA.

Licence

Rights are usually retained by the publisher and the publisher can revoke access at any time should they wish.

• Licencing advice