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Academic Publishing @ Pitt

This guide provides resources and information on the academic publishing process as a whole.

What is Open Access?

Open Access (OA) is a term used to describe 1) a broad, international movement that believes in free and open online access to academic information; 2) principles and practices aligned with the movement; and 3) scholarship published without traditional barriers like licensing restrictions or paywalls. 

Open-access (OA) literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. OA is compatible with copyright, peer review, revenue (even profit), print, preservation, prestige, quality, career-advancement, indexing, and other features and supportive services associated with conventional scholarly literature. The primary difference is that the bills are not paid by readers and hence do not function as access barriers.

— Peter Suber

Although Open Access is typically applied to articles and books, it can encompass any kind of scholarly output, including data, code, research protocols, or other artifacts.

Why Publish Open Access?

diagram depicting benefits of open access publishing

"Benefits of Open Access" by Danny Kingsley & Sarah Brown, CC BY license.

Open access publishing has many advantages, including:

  • Universal access to scientific knowledge
  • More frequent citation
  • Public access to taxpayer-funded research
  • Wider dissemination, allowing for easier reuse and collaboration
  • Transparency and increased citizen engagement with research
  • Faster development of practical applications of research

Learn more about the advantages of open access at the links below:

Open Access Publishing Models

There are different ways to publish your work open access, and the labels for types of open access can sometimes be confusing. The diagrams below both show different models of open access publishing. Click on the images to see larger versions of each diagram.

diagram of open access publishing models

 

colors of open access diagram

Gold Open Access

  • Articles are freely, openly available by default immediately at the time of publication
  • Authors usually retain copyright and content is published under a Creative Commons license
  • Journals use alternative revenue sources to replace income generated by subscription fees
  • Oftentimes involves article processing charges (APCs), fees that must be paid by the author, either with their own money or institutional/grant funding

Universities, academic societies, and other organizations sometimes have funds to help cover APCs. Pitt no longer has an author fee fund, but the university has agreements with several publishers that allow affiliated corresponding authors to publish open access at no cost or at a discounted rate. Find more information about the terms of these agreements linked below.

Green Open Access

  • Also known as self-archiving
  • Publisher does not make content open access
  • Author provides access to a version of their manuscript via an open access repository
  • Publisher policies determine which version of an article can be made open access and when

Diamond Open Access

  • Journals do not charge subscription fees or article processing charges (APCs)
  • Because no revenue is collected, journals require outside funding, often from a university or learned society
  • Scholarship is divorced from commercial concerns of for-profit publishers
  • More common in Europe, Latin America, and Asia than in the United States

Hybrid Open Access

  • Subscription-based journals that offer authors the option to pay an APC to publish open access or publish behind a paywall for no cost
  • Many longstanding journals from major publishers like Wiley and Elsevier have adopted this model
  • Hybrid OA is sometimes an interim step before journals adopt a Gold OA model

Pitt's agreements with publishers, which allow affiliated corresponding authors to publish open access at no cost or a discounted rate, covers many hybrid journals. More information about these agreements, including terms and eligibility, is linked below.

Bronze Open Access

  • Articles are made available on publishers' websites, either immediately or after an embargo
  • License may not be clear, which blurs open status and makes reuse difficult
  • Not considered a sustainable OA model, since continued access relies on publishers' discretion

Books About Open Access

Learn More About Open Access

The links below are to three influential statements developed early in the Open Access movement that have shaped its trajectory in the years since.