Open Access
Open access (OA) is a set of principles and practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of cost either via an open access journal, open access book or inclusion in an institutional or disciplinary repository.
In 2023, Te Pōkai Tara l Universities New Zealand released an Open Access Statement on behalf of New Zealand’s eight universities. The statement recognises the rights of Māori and other indigenous groups to determine the most appropriate ways for managing their data and underscores the universities’ commitment to promote OA.
Benefits of open access
Making research accessible through OA has far reaching benefits across academia and society as a whole. Some of the main groups include:
As an author, OA means that your research can reach a wider audience and have a greater research impact, both scholarly (increased readership and citations) and non-scholarly (impact on policy, practitioners, society or the environment). OA has a positive effect on citations, with open research output achieving 52% more citations on average and OA publications received 72% more citations than closed ones (Council of New Zealand University Libraries, 2021 and 2022).
To make their journal articles open access, authors can use the Open Access Toolkit for Aotearoa New Zealand Researchers, which guides them through the process.
OA gives readers barrier-free access to the literature they need for their research, unconstrained by the budgets of the libraries. Additionally, it enhances discoverability, benefitting the general public and practitioners who might not have library access. Overall, OA promotes transparency, equity, and innovation in scholarly communication, benefitting readers by providing them with greater access to knowledge and facilitating collaboration and discovery across disciplines and borders.
OA increases the return on investment in research, making the results of funded research more widely available, more discoverable, more retrievable, and more useful. When funding agencies disburse public funds, OA helps by providing fundamental fairness to taxpayers through public access to the results of publicly-funded research.
As funders of research, governments benefit from OA in all the ways that funding agencies do (see previous entry). OA also promotes democracy by sharing non-classified government information as widely as possible and providing citizens with information with which to inform decisions. (adapted from http://legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/brief.htm)
Pathways to open
There are serval types of open access, which are typically categorised based on the level of restrictions placed on the use and distribution of research articles.
Gold open access refers to academic articles that are published in fully open access journals and books which are freely available to everyone without the need to pay for access. These articles and books are often licensed under a Creative Commons license which specifies the terms of use and distribution. The publisher may charge an article or book processing charge (APC/BPC), which can be paid by the author’s institution or funding body, or by an individual researcher. Alternatively, APC/BPCs can be paid through Read and Publish Agreements, also known as transformative agreements. Reputable open journals can be found through Directory of Open Access Journals and books through Directory of Open Access Books.
Green OA refers to the practice of depositing a version of the publication (usually the author’s accepted manuscript) into a subject-based or institutional repository. Research Commons is the University of Waikato’s institutional repository and is available for staff who wish to make their research open through the green route. Individual journal self-archiving policies can be found on SHERPA RoMEO.
For more information on repositories visit our Publish your Research guide and our Research Commons guide.
Hybrid refers to the practice of providing OA to individual articles in a journal that is otherwise behind a paywall. Authors publishing in a hybrid journal will be given the option to publish open (for a fee/APC) or closed. APCs are usually higher in hybrid journals than for fully open access journals.
Platinum or diamond journals do not charge either the authors or the readers to make research open access. Diamond open access journals are often community-driven and supported by institutions.
Bronze refers to a freely available journal article that has no open license and hence cannot be considered fully open access. In other words, it’s open at the publisher’s discretion.
These types of open access represent different approaches to achieving the goal of making scholarly research freely accessible to the public, with varying degrees of openness and restrictions on use and reuse.
Open Access Policies
Various funders, institutions and organisations have policies around open access which include guidelines, recommendations and requirements on which pathways are acceptable, what to do with research data and even how long an embargo can be placed on a research output. These must be considered and understood before choosing where to publish your research. OA policies often include guidelines for research data management. Some examples of these open access policies are provided below.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has an Open Access Policy which requires all peer-reviewed publications related to the funded research be made available with OA through either (5.2):
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Publication in fully OA journals (i.e., gold OA)
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Deposit of the author’s accepted manuscript (AAM) into a suitable online repository such as the Library’s Research Commons (i.e., green OA, 5.2.2) with no more than a 12-month embargo (5.2.4)
Horizon Europe has an Open Access Policy which requires all peer-reviewed publications related to the funded research be made available with open access through either:
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Publication in fully OA journals (i.e., gold OA)
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Deposit of the author’s accepted manuscript (AAM) into a suitable online repository such as the Library’s Research Commons (i.e., green OA)
The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Open Access Policy states that all peer-reviewed publications supported in some way by NHMRC must be:
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made immediately OA, that is, without any embargo period at the time of first online publication, regardless of whether that publication is an advanced or early online publication or the Version of Record
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published under a Creative Commons licence
The Australian Research Council (ARC) Open Access Policy requires funded research outputs to be made OA within 12 months of publication (6.2.1).
Need help?
The Open Research Team is on hand to help you understand your options when making your research open access, including pathways and funding requirements.