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“Access without payment to the version of record of a publication via the publisher’s own platform... is often called gold open access”
Defining 'Gold'
'Gold' open access refers to work which is free to read and download from the publisher's website, with an open licence to facilitate re-use.
Publishers who offer a gold route often recoup their costs by charging the author a fee when their work is accepted for publication. Open access fees, known as article processing charges (APCs), typically range between £200 - £5000, depending the discipline and the journal.
Waivers or discounts may be offered to authors without any means of payment, or who are contributing to the success of the publication in other ways (e.g. an invited contribution, editorial/reviewer duties, or society membership).
Certain research funders offer financial support to funded authors to pay APCs.
Some publishers enter into local or national 'read and publish' agreements with libraries, waiving APCs for affiliated authors in return for an institutional participation fee.
Fully open access platforms which don't charge fees to authors are known as 'diamond' OA. Many 'diamond' publishers cover their running costs through support from scholarly/professional societies and institutions.
The global Directory of Open Access Journals recognises almost 14 000 diamond OA titles (2025), ranging from multidisciplinary (e.g. Sustainable Environmental Research, BMC) to highly specialised (e.g. Journal of Comics Scholarship, from the Open Library of the Humanities).
The 'green' route to open access can be just as impactful as gold or diamond OA, with no costs for the author or their institution. Publish your paper in a journal which derives its income from subscribers rather than authors, and self-archive your accepted manuscript in an accredited OA repository.
Choosing where to publish
The authoritative, independent, non-profit Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) maintains a searchable list of titles with a DOAJ Seal, demonstrating best practice in gold OA publishing. You can filter by subject discipline, language, country of publication and more.
Many scholarly publishers provide a directory of their own gold OA and/or 'hybrid' (partly OA) titles. Start from their 'instructions for contributors' for more information about licence terms and article processing charges.
If you are targeting a specific journal, search the SHERPA Romeo database (funded by Jisc) for a summary of authors' options for gold or green open access.
Choosing a licence
Start from the Library's guide to Copyright for an overview of Creative Commons and other licensing schemes which are designed for open access publishing, to inform readers about permitted use of the material.
The Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association offers best practice guidelines on licensing and attribution of open access works, written for the publisher but also useful for authors deciding which licence will be most appropriate in their circumstances.
Predatory Publishers
Beware of predatory publishers who "lie about their business practices for the purpose of attracting paying authors" (Rick Anderson, 2019). If you receive an unsolicited invitation to submit a paper to a journal you don't recognise, treat it with suspicion.
Recommended reading:
April 2024: Clare Hooper from Liverpool University Press has blogged about the experience of having a legitimate journal 'cloned' by a fraudulent site.- Shen & Shah (2023): Predatory publishing practices: what researchers should know before submitting their manuscript. Insights 36, 19.
- A consortium of international medical societies has published a Joint Position Statement on Predatory Publishing (2021), incorporating guidance on the "defining characteristics of a predatory journal", applicable to all disciplines.
- David H. Kaye, Emeritus Professor of Law at Penn State, blogs regularly about encounters with Flaky Academic Journals in all disciplines. You can search the blog content for any references to journals you're worried about.
- The international Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) has published a discussion document (2019) identifying the key issues and proposing solutions to predatory publishing.
- Hull Professor of Nursing Roger Watson has recorded a podcast (2016) on "steps you can take to protect yourself" from predatory publishers.
Think. Check. Submit. is a tool developed by scholarly publishers and societies, to offer researchers a checklist that will help them decide if a publisher is trustworthy:
Who Can Help?
Library Collections and Research Services teams can advise on the terms of the University's OA publishing agreements and the availability of financial support from research funders: periodicals@hull.ac.uk
Contact Library staff for assistance with creating and editing Worktribe output records to maximise opportunities for open access in the University's Research Repository: repository@hull.ac.uk
