A doctoral student believes that making his paper free to read means paying a publication fee of several thousand dollars. He picks the most expensive open access journal he can afford, then learns that the subscription journal he passed over would have let him deposit his accepted manuscript in the university repository at no cost, where Google Scholar would have found it too.
Open access is a family of different models, not a single option with a price tag. Understanding them lets you decide on the basis of readership, your rights and your budget, rather than assumptions.
Five models to tell apart
| Model | Who pays | What readers get |
|---|---|---|
| Gold | Author, institution or funder pays an article processing charge (APC) | Immediate free access to the published version, usually under CC BY |
| Diamond (or platinum) | Neither authors nor readers; funded by a society, university or other body | Immediate free access to the published version |
| Hybrid | Author pays to open a single article in a subscription journal | That article is free; the rest of the journal still needs a subscription |
| Green | Nobody pays extra; the author self-archives | Accepted manuscript free in a repository, sometimes after an embargo |
| Bronze | The publisher makes it free voluntarily | Free to read but with no clear licence, and it can be withdrawn |
Diamond is the model many researchers have never heard of: plenty of serious, properly indexed journals charge neither authors nor readers. Find them in DOAJ using the filter for journals without article processing charges.
The three versions of a paper
Most self-archiving rules distinguish three versions, and confusing them is a common source of copyright breaches:
- Submitted version (preprint): what you first sent to the journal, before review.
- Accepted manuscript (author accepted manuscript): the final text after peer review, in your own formatting, before the publisher’s typesetting.
- Version of record: the typeset PDF with page numbers and publisher branding.
With subscription journals you can usually archive versions 1 and 2 under certain conditions, but not post version 3 publicly. Save version 2 in a dedicated folder the day your paper is accepted; a few months later, a surprising number of authors can no longer find it.
What Creative Commons licences mean
- CC BY: others may copy, distribute and adapt the work, including commercially, provided they give credit. The most common licence in gold journals and required by many funders.
- CC BY-NC: the same, but no commercial use.
- CC BY-NC-ND: no commercial use and no derivatives, which includes translations.
A practical catch: if your paper includes figures borrowed from elsewhere, you need the right to relicense them under the article’s licence, or a clear note that they are excluded from it.
APCs and ways to reduce costs
Article processing charges vary widely and change over time, so always check the official page. Before paying yourself, look into:
- Library agreements. Many universities have deals with publishers, often called read-and-publish agreements, under which fees for affiliated authors are partly or fully covered. Ask your library before choosing a journal.
- Waiver policies. Many publishers waive or discount fees for authors from low- and middle-income countries, usually based on a published country list.
- Grant budgets. Many funders allow publication costs if they are included in the original budget.
- Diamond journals and the green route, which cost nothing extra.
A high fee does not signal high quality, and a low fee does not signal a weak journal. Judge journals on review, editorial board, indexing and readership, as you would any other.
Your rights: read before you sign
On acceptance you will sign either a copyright transfer agreement or a licence to publish under which you keep copyright. This document decides what you may do with your own work: deposit it in a repository, use it in teaching, reuse figures in your thesis. Some funders and universities have rights retention policies, asking authors to tell the publisher at submission that the accepted manuscript will be openly licensed. If yours does, use the institution’s standard wording in your cover letter.
In practice: a four-question decision tree
- Does your funder or institution require immediate open access? If so, read the licence and timing requirements and drop journals that cannot comply.
- Does your library have fee agreements with particular publishers? If so, prioritise suitable journals covered by them.
- Is there a suitable diamond journal in your field? Search DOAJ; if quality is comparable, it costs nothing.
- If you choose a subscription journal, what is its self-archiving policy? Check the journal site or Sherpa Romeo: which version, where, and after how long.
For the green route, the concrete steps are: when the acceptance letter arrives, save the accepted manuscript as a PDF, add a cover note reading “This is the accepted manuscript of an article published in [journal], DOI [number]”, and upload it to your institutional or subject repository, setting the release date to match any embargo.
Worth doing this week: ask your library which publishers it has fee agreements with, and create a folder holding the accepted manuscript of every paper you have published. Those two steps open a route to open access that costs you nothing.
Câu hỏi thường gặp
Do I have to pay to publish open access?
No. Diamond journals charge authors nothing, and the green route lets you self-archive your accepted manuscript free of charge, subject to the journal’s policy.
What is an author accepted manuscript?
The final version after peer review, in the author’s own formatting and before the publisher’s typesetting. It is usually the version you may deposit in a repository.
Can I upload the journal PDF to ResearchGate?
For subscription journals, posting the version of record publicly is usually not allowed. Check the self-archiving policy and use the accepted manuscript where permitted.
What is the difference between CC BY and CC BY-NC?
CC BY allows any reuse, including commercial, provided credit is given. CC BY-NC prohibits commercial use.
How can I find open access journals with no fees?
Search DOAJ and filter for journals without article processing charges, then assess quality through the editorial board, review process and indexing as you would for any journal.
