Open Access Publishing Agreements: Introduction
Open Access Publishing and UCD Library
Open Access (OA) means making scholarly research outputs freely available online to all, with no, or limited, licence restrictions. This contrasts with the subscription model for academic journals, whereby payment of a fee is required in order to read publications.
Publishing your research open access can help increase its visibility, and potentially, its impact. It also allows a diverse range of audiences, who may not have access to subscription journals through an academic library, to read and use your research, including practitioners, policy-makers, and those in developing countries. Many funding bodies now also require that grantees make their research outputs openly accessible to all.
UCD Library supports open access through a variety of channels including Research Repository UCD. In order to accelerate the transition towards full open access, the Library (along with the Irish Research eLibrary (IReL)) is also actively involved in negotiating open access agreements with a growing number of scholarly publishers.
Which publishers are covered?
Each tab on this guide details the publishing agreements and arrangements currently available through UCD Library and how researchers can avail of them to publish their research outputs open access - at present this includes Elsevier and ACM.
Who can avail of these agreements?
Open access publishing agreements can be availed of by all corresponding authors affiliated with UCD. The corresponding author is the person responsible for manuscript submission and all correspondence/communication during the publication process.
Please ensure you include your UCD address and UCD email address in the corresponding author details at the time of submission.
Do I still need to self-archive my research in an open access repository (e.g. Research Repository UCD) if my article is now open access on the publisher's website?
Some funding bodies/programmes (e.g. Horizon 2020) may still require you to archive your publication in a repository even if it is already published open access, so check your grant agreement to ensure you comply with any such requirements.
Otherwise, there is no need to also self-archive your work in a repository as your publication is already openly accessible, but you can still do so if you wish.
Which open access/creative commons licence should I select?
Creative Commons (CC) licences do not replace copyright. By adopting CC licences authors allow others to use their published work more flexibly. We recommend that you first check if your funding body requires or prefers a specific licence.
The most common CC licences are:
CC BY: This licence lets others distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licences offered. Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed materials.
CC BY-NC: This licence lets others remix, adapt, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.
CC BY-NC-ND: This licence is the most restrictive of the six main licenses, only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.
Source: https://creativecommons.org/licenses
For more information on the full range of CC licensing options, and advice on choosing the right licence for your research, see the CC licence choosing tool.
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Guide to Creative Commons for Scholarly Publications and Educational ResourcesGuide produced by the VSNU and NWO in the Netherlands
Further Help & Support
If you have any questions in relation to any of the open access publishing agreements detailed on this guide please contact collections@ucd.ie.
For information about open access more generally, please contact Michelle Dalton, Research Services, UCD Library (michelle.dalton@ucd.ie) or see our Open Access guide.