Content
Open Access
Open Access research is digital, online, free of charge, and free of copyright and licensing restrictions. Open Access is made possible by the Internet and the consent of the author or copyright-holder. Often in the university environment Open Access refers to unrestricted online access to articles published in scholarly journals.
USC support for Open Access
USC supports researchers participating in Open Access offering either a Green Road or Gold Road option.
| ‘Green Road Open Access’ | Deposit a version of your research accepted for publication in peer reviewed journals into the USC Research Repository. | USC Research Repository Coast Research Database provides a showcase of USC scholarly research, with functionality to include Open Access full text research publications. The repository complements traditional academic publishing processes - it is not a replacement. Once a research article has been accepted for publication in a scholarly journal (subject to normal scholarly peer review processes), USC researchers can self-archive a full text version of the article in the USC Research Repository. Library staff are trained to work through related copyright permissions for this to take place. Contact research-repository@usc.edu.au if you would like to have your research made available Open Access in the USC Research Repository. |
|---|
| ‘Gold Road Open Access’ | Publish your research in an Open Access journal. | The USC Pro Vice Chancellor (Research) has introduced funding to support USC researchers interested in publishing in Open Access journals. This funding is available, subject to approval, to cover article processing costs in either Biomed Central (BMC) or Public Library of Science (PLoS) Open Access journals. Contact research@usc.edu.au if you are interested in publishing Open Access research in BMC or PLoS. The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) also lists other Open Access publishing avenues. |
|---|
Back to top Common questions from researchers on Open Access
Q. Why should I publish Open Access?
Open Access publishing increases your research exposure, potentially leading to an increase in your citation counts.
Q. How does Open Access fit with the scholarly peer review process?
The Open Access movement focuses on Open Access for peer-reviewed literature. Open Access is compatible with peer review. ‘Green Road Open Access’ repositories make available online publications researchers have had peer reviewed with traditional journal publishers. ‘Gold Road Open Access’ journals usually utilise peer review. All Open Access journals published by BMC and PLoS are peer reviewed.
Q. Are you sure Open Access is not a breach of Copyright?
Many publishers allow researchers to self archive preprint and postprints of research in ‘Green Road Open Access’ repositories. Sherpa/Romeo (2011) state 64% of publishers reviewed allow some form of self-archiving into Open Access repositories by authors. Some publishers allow self archiving of published versions. There may be conditions placed on self archiving (including embargo periods, and providing links to the publisher copy). Library staff are trained to work through related copyright permissions for you, or alternatively researchers can search the SHERP/RoMEO database to know more about the self archiving policies of journals with which they publish.
Q. What is Green Road Open Access?
Authors publish in existing scholarly journals and then self-archive their preprints or postprints in their institutional repository or subject repository. Some publishers endorse immediate Open Access self-archiving, while others impose embargoes. (For example Sherpa/Romeo (2011) state 64% of publishers reviewed allow some form of self-archiving into Open Access repositories by authors).
Q. What is Gold Road Open Access?
Authors publish in an Open Access journal that provides immediate Open Access to all of its articles on the publisher's website. This model is based upon author submission fees. BioMed Central (BMC) and Public Library of Science (PLoS) are two Open Access publishers. The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) also lists many scientific and scholarly Open Access journals.
Q. I only want to publish in journals with high Impact Factors. How does Open Access fit with this?
‘Green Road Open Access’ repositories make available online publications researchers have published with traditional journal publishers, therefore impact factors and quality remain consistent with current practices. ‘Gold Road Open Access’ journals are starting to earn high levels of prestige and impact. BioMed Central publishes a list of their open access journals with their impact factors.
Back to top
Q. What level of Open Access do Australian funding bodies encourage?
National Health and Medical Research Council
NHMRC encourages researchers to consider the benefits of depositing their data and any publications arising from a research project in an appropriate subject and/or institutional repository. If a researcher is not intending to deposit the data from a project in a repository within a six month period, s/he should include the reasons in the project’s Final Report. See: Dissemination of Research Findings
Australian Research Council
Publication and dissemination of Project outputs and outreach activity costs may be supported at up to two (2) per cent of total ARC funding awarded to the Project. The ARC strongly encourages publication in publicly accessible outlets and the depositing of data and any publications arising from a Project in an appropriate subject and/or institutional repository.
Discovery Projects Funding Rules for funding commencing 2012 (2010)
Linkage Projects Funding Rules for funding commencing in 2012 Variation (No.1) (2011)
Further information
BioMed Central. (2011). Do journals published by BioMed Central have Impact Factors and are their citations tracked? Retrieved 17 October, 2011.
Jingfeng, X., Myers, R., Wilhoite, S. (2011). Multiple open access availability and citation impact Journal of Information Science, 37 (19), pp.19-28.
Sherpa Romeo. (2011). Statistics for the 1026 publishers in the RoMEO database Retrieved 17 October, 2011.
Suber, P. (2004). A Very Brief Introduction to Open Access Retrieved 1 October, 2011.
Suber, P. (2006) SPARC Open Access Newsletter number 102. Retrieved 1 October, 2011.
Suber, P. (2009) SPARC Open Access Newsletter number 132. Retrieved 1 October, 2011.
Back to top