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Open Access

Open Access information for UniSC researchers

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.  Open Access institutional repositories make available online publications researchers have had peer reviewed with traditional journal publishers.  Open Access journals pre-dominantly utilise peer review.

Q. Are you sure Open Access is not a breach of Copyright?

Many publishers allow researchers to self-archive preprint and post-prints of research in Open Access institutional repositories. 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 SHERPA/RoMEO database to know more about the self archiving policies of journals with which they publish.

Q. What is Institutional 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. SHERPA/RoMEO, an online database of open access policies of journals and publishers, state that over 80% of publishers allow some form of self-archiving into Open Access repositories by authors.

An example of an institutional repository is the UniSC Research Bank, where all UniSC staff and students should deposit a copy of their research outputs.

Examples of subject based repositories include arXiv, Social Science Research Network (SSRN), Research Papers in Economics (RePEc) and PubMed Central.

Q. What are Open Access Journals?

Authors publish in an Open Access journal that provides immediate Open Access to all of its articles on the publisher's website. This model can be based upon author submission fees. BioMed Central (BMC) and Public Library of Science (PLoS) are two examples of this type of 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?

Open Access institutional repositories make available online publications researchers have published with traditional journal publishers, therefore impact factors and quality remain consistent with current practices.

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.

Q. What can I do to promote Open Access?

  1. Submit your research articles to an Open Access journal, when there are appropriate ones in your field. Check out the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) for a suitable journal in your subject area.
  2. Deposit your post print in an Open Access repository, such as UniSC Research Bank. Check the SHERPA/RoMEO database for journal archiving policies.
  3. Deposit your data files behind the publication research in an Open Access archive such as UniSC Research Bank. Wherever possible, link to the data files from the publication, and vice versa.
  4. When asked to referee a paper or serve on the editorial board for an Open Access Journal, accept the invitation.
  5. Work with your professional societies and colleagues to make sure they understand Open Access.
  6. Educate the next generation of scientists and scholars about Open Access.
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