Open access (OA) literature is digital research that is available online for free. There are different models of open access, including green OA where authors archive their work in institutional repositories, and gold OA where authors or institutions pay publication fees for articles to be openly accessible. The University of Cambridge supports open access while allowing authors to choose where to publish. Case studies show how authors can navigate requirements for open access depending on the journal and funding source. While open access has benefits, there are ongoing issues around publisher policies and how open access may impact publishing choices and careers. Support for open access is available on the University's open access website.

1. @ Cambridge Judge Business School
Andy Priestner
CJBS Information & Library Services Manager
John Norman
Director of Information Technologies and Applied Research in Educational Technologies, University Library
Stelios Kavadias
CJBS Director of Research

2. What is Open Access?
‘Open access (OA) literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most
copyright and licensing restrictions’
- Peter Suber (Director of the Harvard ‘Open Access’ Project)
‘Open access to research publications involves making them freely available online
rather than charging readers to read and use them. Open Access to research data
makes data more widely available for re-use by others to support research,
innovation and wider public use.’
‘The University of Cambridge encourages open access whilst asserting that you
should continue to choose where to publish.’
- UoC Open Access website: https://www.openaccess.cam.ac.uk/about

3. History of Open Access
1990s
The open access movement begins as access to the World Wide Web becomes widely
available and online publishing becomes the norm. Forerunners of open access include
‘open source’ and ‘open courseware’.
1993
The first open access journals become available.
2001
The Creative Commons licensing initiative is founded.
2002
The Open Access movement is defined in key statements at Budapest, Bethesda, and Berlin.
2003
Directory of Open Access Journals is founded and Open Access policies start to be adopted.
2013
From 01 April 2013, Research Councils UK open access policy comes into force (of which
more later).

4. Why Open Access?

5. Toll, Green, Gold
Toll Access – The author submits their publication and the
publisher makes it available for a fee through a database
or website.
Green Open Access (or self-archiving) – Around the time of
publication, the author deposits a pre-print, or the actual
published article, in an institutional repository for gratis use
by anyone.
Gold Open Access – The author or author’s institution
pay a fee to the publisher when their paper is accepted
for publication. The publisher thereafter makes the
material available free at the point of access (through a
Gold OA journal).
But... this is the meeting of two incredibly complex worlds – academia and
publishing – so, inevitably, there are variants, exceptions, and sub-categories.

6. Toll Access vs Open Access
Submit
Get Accepted
Toll Access
Publisher creates a ‘version of record’
Libraries pay to
allow access to
articles in Toll
Access Journals
Author ‘self-archives’ in institutional repository
Articles in
repositories are
freely available to
the public
Author or instit’n pays an article processing charge
Articles in OA
Journals are freely
available to the
public
Green OA
Open Access
Green OA
Gold OA
[Thanks to Trin Thananusak for the use of this slide]

7. Research Councils UK ‘OA policy’ (from 01/04/13)
This policy was a response to the Finch Report published in 2012.
•Applies to publication of peer-reviewed research articles and conference proceedings that
acknowledge funding from the UK’s Research Councils.
• Supports both Gold and Green OA, with a preference for the former as that means
immediate open access with the maximum opportunity for re-use.
• Funding for Open Access is made available through a block grant awarded to Universities
(to pay article processing charges).
•With Gold OA where the block grant is used to pay APCs, papers must be made
immediately available using a Creative Commons ‘CC BY’ ‘re-use’ licence (more on that
shortly).
• ‘The journey to full Open Access is a process and not a single event’ – realistic
expectation that compliance will grow over a 5-year transition period.
• Recognition that impact of the policy on different disciplines is going to be varied e.g.
different embargo periods (e.g. 1 – 2 years in social sciences)

8. The Publishers’ Association ‘decision tree’
Is your research publicly funded?
Yes
No
Is a Gold Open Access option
available from your publisher?
Yes
Are article processing
funds available?
Yes
Immediate Gold
Open Access
No
Green Open Access, usually after
6-12 months embargo period
No
Green Open Access after 12-24
months embargo period
N.B. As with everything to do with Open Access ‘the devil is in the
detail’ and embargoes are more complex than this ‘tree’ suggests.

9. Creative Commons – licenses for ‘re-use’
‘Creative Commons develops, supports, and stewards legal and technical
infrastructure that maximises digital creativity, sharing, and innovation.’
CC is all about licensing re-use of your work – allowing subsequent modification
of work you have created, with credit.
RCUK specify that Gold Open Access papers must be made available immediately
using a CC BY licence - which allows re-use, text-mining, re-mixing and republication. This has been criticised in some quarters.

10. DSpace@Cambridge is the University of Cambridge’s institutional
repository, preserving and providing access to content created by
members of the University. It is delivered and managed by the
University Library: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/
Open access research publications by University members are
added to DSpace@Cambridge in line with research funder
requirements.

11. Open Access webpages (https://www.openaccess.cam.ac.uk/)

12. CJBS Case Study: Green Open Access
Paul Tracey wanted to submit to the Academy of
Management Review a piece of work funded by his ESRC
Fellowship.
1. AMR required all versions of the work to be removed
from public access web sites during the review process.
2. All outputs from the grant had to be submitted to the
ESRC’s Research Outputs System (ROS), a public-access
repository.
N.B. At this stage his paper has not yet been
accepted by AMR.

13. CJBS Case Study: Green Open Access
3. Paul checked www.openaccess.cam.ac.uk by entering
Academy of Management Review in the search box and
selected ESRC as the funder.

14. CJBS Case Study: Green Open Access
…and received advice as follows:

15. CJBS Case Study: Green Open Access
4. Katie Jones emailed info@openaccess.cam.ac.uk, who
advised Paul to submit to ROS a summary only of the work
at this stage, and to submit the article itself once it was
published online by the journal.
5. Katie emailed the journal to ask permission for all
Research Council-funded articles to be available in final
publisher pdf format on the ROS.

16. CJBS Case Study: Gold Open Access
Andrea Mina had an article accepted by Research Policy.
He checked www.openaccess.cam.ac.uk, selected the
journal title, and the funder (also ESRC), and received the
information below. He subsequently applied for funds
via the OA website to cover article processing charges.

17. E-theses
Why a good thing?
But might not be possible:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Makes your findings available to all,
often indexed and searchable by
Google
Raise your profile in the research
community
Persistent URL with
Dspace@Cambridge
Useful for CVs and professional
profiles
•
Patents arising from research
Thesis contains sensitive data
Requirements of project sponsor may
not allow electronic availability
Thesis contains significant quantity of
3rd party copyright material
It is recommended that you discuss your options with your supervisor and make
plans early

18. Issues, Criticisms and Questions
Publishers continued embargoing of Green Open Access sustains their
revenue (a bad thing).
Conversely the belief that Gold Open Access which involves article processing charges is just another
way for publishers to source revenue (another bad thing).
There was no Open Access component in the 2014 REF, but the subsequent REF will undoubtedly have
OA requirements (potentially a bad thing, or at least more work).
Predatory Open Access publishers seeking faculty from Cambridge to be on the board of their Gold
Open Access journals – seeking article processing charges, while providing very little peer review or
editorial support. See http://scholarlyoa.com/ (definitely a bad thing!)
Embargo policies are confusing and need to be reviewed and decisions taken in consultation.
Current licence requirements could limit choice of where to publish and more restrictive licences such
as CC BY NC (not for commercial purposes) and CC BY ND (no alteration or building upon work) should
be deemed acceptable. Also unrealistic to expect authors to debate licensing with publishers.
Complications arising from publication in overseas journals with different requirements to the UK.
How restrictive an realistic are percentage targets for OA compliance across disciplines?

19. Support and advice
Cambridge Open Access website: https://www.openaccess.cam.ac.uk/
Cambridge DSpace website: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/
Katie Jones, Research Manager: k.jones@jbs.cam.ac.uk
Andy Priestner and I&LS Team: ap547@cam.ac.uk / infolib@jbs.cam.ac.uk
DSpace team @ UL: support@repository.cam.ac.uk
Recommended book: Open Access by Peter Suber, MIT Press. Available OA here:
http://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/titles/content/9780262517638_Open
_Access_PDF_Version.pdf

20. @ Cambridge Judge Business School
Any Questions?