What is open access?
Open access (OA) is a way to freely and openly distribute scholarly information while retaining greater control over sharing and use.
Open access is an alternative to paywalled resources, where a subscription or other fee must be paid in order to access the contents.
Open access is a broad term that describes different methods for making material openly available, including:
- GOLD: “Fully open” OA journals that charge a fee to authors to publish, e.g. PLOS One.
- HYBRID/GOLD CHOICE OPTION: Subscription journals that charge a fee to authors to make their article OA, e.g. Nature.
- GREEN: Uploading manuscripts or preprints (submitted or accepted article versions) and other scholarly works to a repository or personal web site, usually in accordance with publisher restrictions.
AU Library support for open access
The library supports open access in many different ways, including publication agreements, an Open Access fund, and our institutional repository, AURA.
More information about this support is available on our open access website.
