In today’s installation for International Open Access Week, we’re taking a closer look at the two main roads to open access: green and gold.

The terms green and gold already have a lot of meaning. When we hear something is ‘green’ we usually think of environmental-friendly initiatives. When we hear something is ‘gold’, it usually conjures the phrase ‘gold standard’, meaning the best. In the open access world, these associations don’t necessarily hold true.

The green road

The green road means self-archiving. Authors are encouraged to archive pre-prints (draft, uncorrected versions) and/or post-prints (the final version as it will be published) in repositories. The repositories can be institutionally based, such as DalSpace, or they can be connected to specific disciplines, such as arxiv for Physics, RePEc for Economics, and E-LIS for Library and Information Science. The repositories can be searched with tools such as Google Scholar, Scopus, and OAIster. To find which repositories publishers allow authors to deposit in, visit the SHERPA/Romeo site.

To be considered ‘green’, an author can publish in a journal that is open access or not, but they have to also deposit in an institutional repository (IR).

The gold road

The gold road refers to open access publishing, particularly journals. Open access journals are available to readers free of charge.  Usually, these are electronic journals and the material is openly accessible on the Internet. Since these journals don’t charge a subscription fee, they employ different methods of paying for the publishing including sponsorship, grants, advertising, and submission fees. Two well-known open access publishers include BioMed Central (BMC) and Public Library of Science (PLoS).

If you plan to publish in a journal, consider the open access implications. Also, consider retaining your rights as an author.

Source:

“Scholarly Communication - Open Access.”

University of Calgary.

ucalgary.ca/scholarlycommunication/openaccess