Open Access (OA) is the practice of providing unrestricted online access to scholarly research and publications. OA publishing is a global trend, with international recommendations set out by UNESCO. Virtually all journal titles and academic publishers now provide means to publish OA articles. For more information on OA, please visit the Library Guide here.
Gold OA: The publisher’s version of full text is immediately available to the public for free at the publisher's website. It is usually assigned with an OA license, such as Creative Commons, indicating how others can reuse the content. The author may have to pay an article processing charge if no society or organization funds the operation of the journal or publisher.
Green OA: A postprint, also known as an accepted manuscript, is archived to an institutional repository, subject-specific repository, or author’s personal website for public access. Publishers may have a self-archiving policy to specify the embargo period, e.g. 6-24 months after publishing.
