Universal Access
Open Access refers to removing price and permission barriers to peer reviewed research. Publishing Open Access is one way to meet Public Access requirements. However, it is not required to meet them. Typically, to publish OA, publishers or journals require that you pay an Article Processing Charge (APC) to publish with them, which can range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. You can search the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) to find OA journals or consider publishing with Virginia Tech Publishing, which does not charge APCs. Be sure to evaluate the journal before submitting to it; Think, Check, Submit is a useful resource for this.
It's important to understand that publishing OA is not the only way to make your work openly available. Alternatively, you can deposit your work into an OA repository, which is free, rather than publishing OA, which is not always free. Virginia Tech's institutional repository, VTechWorks, is available to all VT researchers. You may be able to meet Public Access requirements* by depositing your Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM)** of your published article (journal articles and book chapters) immediately upon acceptance to the publication venue, which is permissible under the Virginia Tech Open Access Policy.
*Depositing to VTechWorks may not necessarily comply with Public Access mandates, depending on the agency and their requirements. It is mentioned here so that authors are aware of the Virginia Tech Open Access Policy and VTechWorks as a potential option for meeting Public Access requirements.
**The AAM is the version that has undergone revisions after peer review; looks like a basic Word or PDF document; does not have the final editorial changes, typesetting, formatting & styling, and publisher branding that the publisher's PDF has. Here is an example of an AAM.
The updated memo:
Further reading:
Sometimes, publishers or journals will reach out to you to publish with them. If the opportunity sounds too good to be true, it likely is. When in doubt, use the Think--> Check--> Submit! Checklist.
For more information visit: https://guides.lib.vt.edu/oa/journals
