Open access publishing: gold route

The Gold route implies publishing in journals that do not establish any barriers to content and use copyright to permit reuse, generally under the terms of a licence, provided the integrity of published work is maintained and authorship is properly attributed. the transition to Open Access has been slower, though the number of OA journals is growing each year, and some leading publications are gaining greater prestige.

 

Academics need the means to launch a new generation of journals committed to Open Access, and to help existing journals that elect to make the transition to Open Access. In order to ensure that journal articles are disseminated as widely as possible, these new journals will no longer invoke copyright to restrict access to and use of the material they publish. Moreover, they will use copyright and other tools to ensure open access to all the articles they publish. Because price is a barrier to access, these new journals will not charge subscription or access fees, and will look for other ways to finance their operations.

 

How to determine whether a publication is Open Access

Reading the HowOpenIsIt? Open Access Spectrum: guide, created by SPARC, PLOS and OASPA, which provides information to help determine how open any given publication is. 

 

Where can I find open access journals?

DOAJ: a directory of OA scientific journals that use an appropriate quality control system (some offer only free public access – gratis OA). The DOAJ aims to increase the visibility and ease-of-use of OA journals and to promote their use and impact.

RCUB. University of Barcelona journals.

RACO. Catalan OA journals.

 
Funding for Open Access publishing
 
Some OA journals use a pay-to-publish system. In this case, an article processing charge (APC) must be paid to make the article free at point of access.  These fees differ from journal to journal. 
 

As a member of the University of Barcelona, you have access to funding and discounts for Open Access publishing. You can find information on these programmes and on initiatives aimed at encouraging OA publishing at: Open access publishing.

 
Hybrid model
 
Many paywalled and subscription journals have recently started offering the option of publishing articles in Open Access on request upon payment of a fee, which in most cases is higher than the amount charged by fully Open Access journals (Further information). 
In these hybrid journals, you will find open access articles along with others that are accessible only to subscribers or on a pay-per-view basis.
Funding offered by the University of Barcelona does not cover the fees charged by hybrid OA journals.

This dual method of charging may mean that institutions end up paying an extra cost (i.e. the cost of subscribing and article processing charges for OA dissemination), as LERU explains in this document.