In today’s installation for International Open Access Week, we’re taking a closer look at the Open Access rainbow. Green, blue, yellow, white and gold make up the open access rainbow, with each colour relating to a different option or model in the open access journal world.

Before we dive into what each colour means, we first have to understand the concepts of pre-print, author’s final version and post-print. Pre-prints are the draft, uncorrected version of an article. The author’s final version is the article written exactly as it will appear in a journal. Post-prints are how the article looks in a journal—this includes the typeface and layout as it appears on the pages of the publication. Usually this is a PDF of the article from the publication.

Each colour in the open access rainbow refers to different levels of open access allowed by publishers.

Green

When a publisher allows both the pre-print and the post-print to be archived, they are considered a green publisher producing green journals. Many publishers will allow the author’s final version to be archived but not the post-print. Such publishers are still considered green as they allow a version to be archived that has the same content as the published version.

Blue

Blue publishers will not allow pre-prints to be archived but will allow post-prints or the author’s final version to be archived.

Yellow

If a publisher allows their authors to archive their pre-prints but not their post-prints, then they are considered a yellow publisher.

White

Publishers that refuse to grant their authors any rights to archive their work online are called white publishers. Their journals are known as white journals.

Gold

Gold refers to open access journals that are available to readers free of charge.  Usually, these are electronic journals and the material is openly accessible on the Internet.  These journals are financed by payments for the article to be published, as opposed to being financed through reader subscriptions.  Sometimes referred to as “author-pays publishing,” when generally the publishing fee is paid from a research grant as part of the cost of doing research.

We hope that the blog posts featured on the LibVine throughout Open Access Week have shed light on some of the issues facing the academic world. In recognition of Open Access Week, the School of Information Management is launching the latest issue of their journal, the Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management, as an open access edition.  The launch will take place today (Fri., Oct. 26)  from 12-1 p.m. in room 3089 of the Rowe Building.

 

Source: Green, Blue, Yellow, White & Gold: a brief guide to the open access rainbow, by Bill Hubbard.  http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/documents/sherpaplusdocs/Nottingham-colour-guide.pdf