Open Access Publishing

1.Publish in Open Access Journals.

Authors can publish in an open access journal through the *Diamond, Gold or Hybrid route.  All routes ensure your work is available, upon publication, to readers free of charge.  However, both the Gold and Hybrid routes incur a fee, known as an Article Processing Charge (APC) for open access.   An APC is a one-time fee paid by researchers, to publishers.  Gold journals only offer publication through payment of an APC, and all of the articles in the journal are open access.  However, hybrid journals offer a mix of open access articles for a fee (APC) and closed access, sometimes with a green option (see below), within the same title.

Payment of an APC is required after your manuscript is accepted but before it is published.  If the journal you wish to publish in charges APCs, there are a number of ways this fee can be paid:

• Through our open access publishing agreements as members of the IReL national consortium.  More information is available here. 
• From research funding (usually prospective publishing costs must be agreed at the proposal stage)
• Directly by the author

TU Dublin does not support the payment of APCs outside of these methods. 

2. Green Route (self-archiving) Route to Open Access.

The green route allows researchers to publish their work in a closed access, or subscription only journal.  However, authors can deposit the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) in the IR.

To check a journal’s open access policy, you can use Open Policy Finder. It is a quick and easy way to find out if the journal that you are thinking of publishing in has an open access policy

*The Directory of Open Access Journals provides a comprehensive list of over 11,000 well-regarded journals and lists the APC cost, if any.

3. Workflow for Depositing Work in the IR

• TU Dublin staff are asked to submit the full text file (either the AAM or open access version) to their record in PURE. All full text documents will be automatically pushed to our IR.
• TU Dublin PhD students can submit to our IR directly.

• A quick guide to using the Open Access agreements is available here.OpenAccessAgreements_aguide_0626.pdf
  
  
• The full Library Guide on Open Access Agreements is available here.

• Increased visibility and impact: Open access publishing makes research freely available to anyone, which can lead to greater visibility and citation rates. Researchers can reach a wider audience, thereby increasing the potential impact of their work. Open Access expands the number of potential contributors to research from just those at institutions wealthy enough to afford journal subscriptions to anyone with an internet connection.

• Compliance with Funding Mandates: Many funding agencies and institutions require researchers to make their publications openly accessible to the public as a condition of funding. Open access publishing enables researchers to comply with these mandates easily, ensuring that their work reaches the widest possible audience and maximizes the return on investment for funders and taxpayers.

• Preservation and Long-Term Accessibility: Open access journals often utilize digital repositories and preservation mechanisms to ensure the long-term accessibility and archiving of published articles. This helps to safeguard research outputs and mitigates the risk of loss or deterioration associated with traditional print-based publishing models.

• Equity and Inclusivity: Open access publishing promotes equity and inclusivity by democratizing access to knowledge regardless of geographic location, institutional affiliation, or financial resources. It reduces disparities in information access, enables researchers from diverse backgrounds to participate more fully in scholarly discourse, and supports global efforts to address societal challenges through collaborative research and knowledge sharing.

In short, even the best ideas remain just that until they are shared, until they can be utilised by others. The more people that can access and build upon the latest research, the more valuable that research becomes and the more likely we are to benefit as a society.

Creative Commons Licences provide a legal means to grant copyright permissions to a publicly available work, while ensuring proper attribution (citation). They provide a simple and standardized way to give your permission to share and use your work on conditions which you choose.

There are a number of CC licences available, and a check list here to help you determine the best licence for your work. 

Additional Resources:

• Copyright in Research - Library Guide
• The Wiley Guide to Navigating Creative Commons Licences