Open access to scholarly publications

Open Access publishing implies that scholarly publications are made freely, immediately and permanently available to everyone via internet.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​When publishing Open Access (OA), the author retains copyright to his or her publication while granting users the rights to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search in or link to the full-text without demanding financial compensation.

Expenses for OA publishing are covered either by the research funder, Nord University’s Open Access Fund or through the university’s participation in national journal agreements.

Definitions Diamond, Gold, Green and Hybrid OA​​

Diamond/Platinum OA: Publish for free in a journal ​where all the papers are made openly accessible at the time of publication, without any embargo period being required (immediate OA).

Gold OA: Pay an article processing charge (APC) in a journal where all the papers are made openly accessible at the time of publication, without any embargo period (immediate OA). 

Green OA: Publish in a subscription-based journal (non-OA) and self-archive the peer-reviewed, accepted version in the institutional repository (self-archiving), possibly with an embargo period (delayed OA). Self-archiving includes also open scholarly articles, books/book chapters and PhD theses.

Hybrid OA: Pay an extra article processing charge (APC) to make your article openly accessible in a subscription-based journal (immediate OA).

Read more about OA definitions​​​​ (see the sidebar​ of the webpage)


Why publish Open Access​?

Publicly funded research is openly accessible

Research funded by society should be accessible to everyone. Society should not have to pay for access to this research​​

Open Access removes cost barriers

One of the aims of Open Access is to alter the current journal funding model (the subscription-based model) and create a funding model where you do not pay for access to research findings​

Open Access removes access barriers

Open Access provides everyone with equal opportunity to access research findings. The use of open licences implies that work may be shared and used with fewer limitations​

Open Access distributes knowledge

​​New knowledge will be discovered faster once it is openly accessible. The removal of copyright barriers implies that more people can use and build on this knowledge. Open Access publications are downloaded, read and cited more frequently than other publications​

Open Access secures future access

Publications which are archived and made available in open institutional, disciplinary or national repositories will also be accessible in the future​

Open Access allows authors retain copyright

​When choosing to publish Op​en Access, authors retain the rights to use their own work instead of transferring copyright to publishers​​​

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​​How to find OA literature

Many articles both in open and subscription-based journals are legally and freely accessible. You can find these by searching in databases of open journals, or through various plug-ins/ browser extensions that identify free versions of articles. Read more about how to find OA literature.​

Useful resources:​

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