Never fear – there are several pathways to publish open access.
First, consult the RPI list. Journals on this list align with Charles Sturt’s strategic goals in terms of quality and priority Fields of Research. You also need to make sure that the journal you choose aligns with your research and career goals.
Next, check how to make your article open access.
Is the journal included in an Open Access agreement (OA agreement)?
Remember that not all journals in a publisher’s portfolio are included in OA agreements – check each specific title. Once you have checked eligibility:
- Read the journal website and the appropriate publisher information carefully.
- For CAUL agreements, consult the appropriate publisher page on the CAUL LibGuide.
- For Publisher Direct agreements, check our LibGuide.
If the journal is covered – great – get publishing!
If the journal is not covered, you’ll need to explore other pathways to Open Access. There are a number of options.
Pathways to Open Access
Repository-based open access (also referred to as Green OA or self-archiving)
Publish your article behind the paywall, without paying an Article Processing Charge (APC), and submit your Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) to CRO. Your article will be made open access after an embargo. Look up the title of your selected journal in Open Policy Finder, or check specific journal websites, to see if you can publish your article OA via a repository, such as CRO.
Hybrid OA
While we often think of journals as being fully open or fully closed, it’s common to find journals that offer both open and closed articles in the same title. Remember – open articles are given a Creative Commons Licence and are freely available to read and use, closed articles are behind a paywall and only available to read with a subscription. If you have selected a hybrid journal, you can still publish your article closed, without paying an APC. The good news is that many hybrid titles will allow you to deposit your AAM in a repository after an embargo period. The best place to find this information is on the journal’s own website.
Publish a preprint
More popular in some disciplines than others, you can upload a version of your article to a reputable preprint server before or during peer review. This makes your work openly available sooner, supports rapid dissemination, and is accepted by many journals. It is important to check potential journal’s preprint policies first before you use this option. The best way to find preprint policies is to check the journal website or Open Policy Finder.
Rights retention
Include a rights retention statement in your manuscript so you can share your AAM openly, even if the journal’s standard policy is more restrictive. This lets you keep key reuse rights and deposit your work in a repository without extra permissions. Watch our session: Rights Retention: You wrote it. Who owns it?
Diamond Open Access
Publish in a fully open access journal with no APCs. These journals are often run by institutions such as scholarly societies. While they may not appear high in ranking lists, they’re well-read within their disciplines and remain reputable, community-supported venues worth considering. The best way to find Diamond journals is to use the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and filter for “Journals without fees”.
Paid open access (often referred to as Gold OA)
Consider including the APC cost in your budget or funding application. You can also apply for funding via the Tri-Faculty Funding – but bear in mind that this funding may not cover the full cost of your APC –they regularly exceed $4000 USD.
What if I can’t find a journal in the RPI list?
If you can’t find a journal that aligns with your research goals in the RPI list, you can search for one in a number of ways. We recommend reading more on finding the right journal.
Speak to your peers (and your supervisor, if applicable) about why you might want to publish in a journal that is not included in the RPI list. You can also recommend titles to be added to the RPI list.
When considering journals, the following tools can be helpful:
- SCImago Journal and Country Rank (SJR) is publicly available and provides journal quartile ranks based on the Scopus database. It has recently been updated to include a function to find other similar journals.
- Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory lists journals in all disciplines and is useful if your research is cross-disciplinary and you are not familiar with potential journals in related areas.
- The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) lists reputable open access journals. Journals in this directory must meet certain criteria prior to being listed.
- Open Policy Finder is a searchable database of publisher policies on the self-archiving of journal articles on the web and in Open Access repositories.
These tools aren’t perfect. For example, Ulrichs includes some journals that do not offer peer-reviewed content, and the DOAJ does not include every open access journal. Also note that not all journals in Scimago and Ulrichs will be open access – you will still need to follow the steps above to confirm if a title is included in the OA agreements or if you need to choose another pathway to open.
We recommend carrying out this process early in your research. Make sure that you understand your chosen journal’s requirements in terms of how to make your research open. Consider if you have received any funding and if they have requirements around open access. It’s usually a good idea to check the journal websites and OA agreement pages closer to submission, too – just in case something has changed while you’ve been writing.
We understand that these changes can feel daunting and, at times, deeply frustrating. The current publishing landscape is shaped by commercial pressures that don’t always align with researchers’ needs. Our aim is to help you navigate these challenges confidently and maintain control over the openness and impact of your work.
As always, get in touch if you have more questions.
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