For a long time, most research papers sat behind subscription paywalls. If your college library did not subscribe to a particular journal, you could not read its articles without paying a fee for each one. Open access changes this by making research free to read for everyone.
This article explains what open access means, how it is funded, and what authors should consider.
What is open access?
An open access article can be read, downloaded and shared online by anyone, without a subscription or payment. Most open access journals also use a licence that allows readers to reuse the work, as long as they credit the authors.
Understanding Creative Commons licences
Open access articles are usually published under a Creative Commons (CC) licence. The most common ones in academic publishing are:
- CC BY: Anyone can share and adapt the work for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as they give credit.
- CC BY-NC: Anyone can share and adapt the work with credit, but not for commercial purposes.
- CC BY-NC-ND: The work can be shared with credit for non-commercial purposes, but not changed or adapted.
As an author, you usually keep the copyright in your work and grant the public these rights through the licence. Check the licence shown on each journal’s website and article pages.
Routes to open access
Gold open access
The article is published openly in the journal itself, immediately on publication. Many gold open access journals charge an article processing charge (APC) to cover editing, production and hosting costs.
Diamond (or platinum) open access
The journal is free to read and free to publish in. Costs are covered by a university, society, government or other sponsor.
Green open access
The article is published in a subscription journal, but the author also places a version (often the accepted manuscript) in an institutional or subject repository. Publishers usually set conditions on which version can be shared and when.
Hybrid journals
Subscription journals that allow individual authors to pay to make their article open access.
Benefits for authors
- Wider readership. Students, teachers and practitioners without expensive subscriptions can read your work.
- More visibility. Open papers are easier to find through search engines and can be shared freely on social media and academic networks.
- Real-world use. Policymakers, NGOs and local administrators can access research about their own regions.
- Meeting funder requirements. Some funding agencies expect research they support to be openly available.
Things to check before you publish
The growth of open access has also attracted some journals that charge fees without providing genuine peer review. Before you pay any APC, check:
- Is the fee clearly stated on the website before submission?
- Is the peer review process described, and does the timeline sound realistic?
- Is the licence clearly shown on published articles?
- Are the editorial board members real academics in relevant fields?
- Are the published articles of reasonable quality?
Open access in the Indian context
Many Indian journals, particularly multidisciplinary and regional-language journals, operate on an open access model. This has made it easier for researchers from colleges and smaller universities, where library subscriptions are limited, to both publish and read current research. Repositories such as Shodhganga, which hosts Indian theses, are another important part of the open access landscape.
The bottom line
Open access is about making knowledge available to everyone who can benefit from it. For authors, it can significantly increase who reads and uses their work. The key is to choose open access journals that are transparent about their fees, licences and review process.
The journals of Imaginative Ink Publications are open access and published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) licence.
— Editorial Team, Imaginative Ink Publications