Open Access Publishing

Open Access is the barrier-free, immediate availability of research outputs coupled with the rights to fully use and build upon these outputs. Open access works are available at no cost to all readers, and are licensed to allow users to retain, reuse, revise, redistribute, or remix the work without seeking permission.

At Western Libraries we support open culture and partner with researchers in identifying open avenues for disseminating research into the global knowledge base. Our support for Open Access is rooted in our commitment to:

• Increase the visibility and impact of Western University research on a national and global scale.
• Facilitate equitable access to scholarly materials for the betterment of society, regardless of location, affiliation, or status.
• Enable interdisciplinary research collaboration.
• Create opportunities for innovative scholarship through sharing and reuse of research outputs.
• Make publicly funded research available to communities beyond the Academy.

At Western Libraries, we strive to leverage our position as a leading research institution to contribute to and shape the future of open access. We do so while anticipating the needs of our local community and partnering with Western researchers to advance open access. We provide:

• Individual Support - Librarians can help researchers navigate author rights and open access funding agency requirements, and identify reputable open access journals, how to avoid predatory journals, and find discipline-specific repositories. Contact Western Libraries Research & Scholarly Communication Team at rsclib@uwo.ca.
• Education - Through one on one consultation, outreach, and workshops, we generate awareness of the benefits of OA for researchers and the communities they serve.
• Self-Archiving Support - Western Libraries provides our community with access to the Western University Open Repository, an open access platform to disseminate the scholarship created by Western researchers. This platform hosts all of Western’s theses & dissertations, as well as conference proceedings, working papers, videos, and more.
• Institutional Memberships - We provide financial support for institutional memberships with Open Access publishers or organizations that develop and advance open infrastructure.
• Journal Publishing - Western Libraries partners with the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) and Scholars Portal to host open access student and faculty-run journals.

We acknowledge that the open ecosystem is evolving, and experimentation is necessary in order for libraries, publishers, and our communities to find sustainable models for open research. We welcome your feedback and suggestions on how we can enhance or improve our commitment to Open Access.

Understanding when to pursue each pathway is the best way to achieve your open access goals. If speed of dissemination is a priority, sharing a pre-print is usually the best option. If financial sustainability is a concern, choosing to self-archive the accepted manuscript is an option with no cost to authors. If your journal of choice does not charge open access fees, or if we have an agreement that gives a waiver on fees, then publishing open access through the journal is a good choice.

Combining pathways, however, facilitates discoverability, maximizes openness, increases the likelihood of citations, and accelerates research.

Learn more below about your open access options.

Sharing pre-prints happens at the Submission stage of the publication process and is the process of depositing a version of a manuscript into a pre-print server (e.g., arXiv, BioRxiv, PsyRxiv), or into Western University’s Open Repository. The pre-print is the version submitted to a journal, prior to undergoing formal peer review.

Reasons to share pre-prints include:

1. Rapid dissemination: Preprint servers allow researchers to share their work with the scientific community and the public promptly. This is especially valuable in rapidly evolving fields where timely communication of findings is crucial.
2. Feedback and collaboration: Posting preprints enables researchers to receive early feedback from their peers. This collaborative aspect helps improve the quality of the research before formal publication.
3. Establishing priority: By sharing preprints, researchers can establish the priority of their work, which can be essential for issues related to intellectual property and academic credit.
4. Open Access: Preprints are typically freely accessible to anyone, promoting the principles of open science and allowing a wider audience to benefit from the research.
5. Visibility: Posting preprints increases the visibility of researchers and their work, potentially leading to more citations and collaborations.

Authors may opt to upload new versions of their manuscript following peer review cycles; however, pre-prints cannot be taken down once they are uploaded to a pre-print server or repository.

Steps:

1. Prior to submission, verify that your journal of choice permits you to deposit pre-prints. Check the journal website or use the Jisc Open Policy Finder, which synthesizes journal sharing policies and outlines OA options.
2. Choose a disciplinary or multidisciplinary pre-print server, or choose to deposit your pre-print to Western University’s Open Repository.
3. Submit your pre-print. Remember that pre-prints cannot be removed from servers, however, authors may submit updated versions.
4. Submit your manuscript to your journal of choice.
5. Enhance your OA dissemination by following the additional open access pathways outlined below.

Sharing accepted manuscripts (i.e., post-prints) happens at the Acceptance stage of the publication process and is also known as green open access. The accepted manuscript is the version of the paper that has gone through peer review.

Western University’s Open Repository accepts deposits of author accepted manuscripts. Depositing your publications in this institutional repository fulfills funder mandated requirements to disseminate work openly in a timely manner, such as those outlined in the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications.

Steps:

1. Prior to submitting, verify that your journal of choice permits you to deposit the accepted manuscript and that if it has any embargo periods or copyright restrictions, they are compatible with relevant funder open access policies. Check the journal website or use the Jisc Open Policy Finder, which synthesizes journal sharing policies and outlines OA options.
2. Submit your manuscript to your journal of choice.
3. When your paper has been accepted and revisions are complete, upload your paper to Western University’s Open Repository. You can do this as soon as your paper is accepted – you don’t need to wait for the expiration of embargo periods, as you can apply an embargo when you upload to the repository.

Note: sharing accepted manuscripts on academic networking sites such as Academia.edu and ResearchGate does not meet funder open access policy requirements. Content on these sites is only available to users with a registered account, so they are not true Open Access repositories. There are also concerns with these sites because they are for-profit, can monetize user data, are not transparent in how they use what scholars upload, and have little to no infrastructure for preservation of uploaded materials.

Publications can be made open access through journals; this route often—but not always—requires the author to pay an article processing charge (APC). These charges can be costly for researchers, with fees averaging $2,000 US. Western Libraries has agreements with several publishers that provide discounts or waivers on APCs.

Open access journal terminology:

• Gold journals only publish open access articles and require authors to pay APCs. Some of Western Libraries’ agreements cover APCs in gold journals, but most do not.
• Diamond or platinum journals only publish open access articles but do not require authors to pay APCs.
• Hybrid or bronze journals publish both open access articles and subscription-access articles. Hybrid journals typically apply Creative Commons open licenses to open access articles and therefore facilitate the reuse of content. Bronze journals generally lack open licenses. Some funders aligned with Plan S restrict the eligibility of APC expenses for these hybrid and bronze journals.

Steps:

1. Search the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) for open access journals. You can limit your search to include only journals that don't charge Open Access fees.
2. Check to see if there is a discount on article processing charges for Western-affiliated authors. The Western Libraries Journal Finder tool can be helpful at this step.
3. Ensure that APCs are an allowable expense through your funding, if applicable.
4. When submitting your manuscript, be sure to identify your affiliation with Western University, so that any APC discount or waiver can be applied to your publication.
5. If you are publishing in a hybrid journal, select the open access option when it is provided to you, if you have funding or a waiver to cover the costs.
6. Choose the Creative Commons License that is most appropriate for your work. If you aren’t sure, we recommend the CC-BY (Creative Commons – Attribution) license, since it is the most open license option.

If you need assistance or have any questions, contact the Research and Scholarly Communications (RSC) team.