Open access and research

Have you heard the phrase Open Access? Do you know what the benefits are for your research?

Open Access is . . .

• A worldwide movement which is enabling wide dissemination and access to research.
• An alternative to the closed subscription-based publishing models.

Benefits of Open Access are:

• Free, unrestricted, online access to scholarly publications.
• Increased chance of citation and impact through wide dissemination and access.

There are two options you can follow to make your research Open Access.

One option is to Self-Archive the Accepted Version of your publication in ResearchOnline@JCU:

• The Accepted Version is the author-created version that incorporates the referee comments and is accepted for publication.
• Publisher policies for around 70% of journals allow the Accepted Version of articles to be self-archived in your Institutional Repository i.e. ResearchOnline@JCU. Check the Sherpa website to see which journals allow self-archiving of accepted versions.
• Accepted Versions are eligible as research outputs of journal articles for ERA Peer Review (section 5.4.7 of the ERA 2012 Submission Guidelines).

A second option is to Publish in Open Access journals:

• The Directory of Open Access Journals provides a comprehensive list.
• Well known Open Access journals are the Public Library of Science (PLoS) journals, or BioMed Central journals.

For more information, contact Jackie Wolstenholme, the Research Services Librarian.