Open Access Publishing

Open access publishing means giving free access to academic sources (articles, books, masters and doctoral dissertations, reports) and to anyone connected to the Internet without technical, financial or legal restrictions other than the authors' copyrights.

The concept of open access makes it possible to distribute academic sources in any digital media or copy them freely, while ensuring that they are attributed to the authors, and that their copyright and legal agreements are protected.

In the classic model, the researcher sends a publication to the publisher, who distributes it to the readers via the library's subscription.

The accelerated digitization of academic sources as well as the high costs that publishers charge for institutional subscriptions to journals have contributed to accelerating open access. Furthermore, it is important to provide free and open access to academic research products funded by the public.

Why should you publish with open access?

Open access publishing has higher visibility and no less impact than material published in the traditional model – which restricts access by fee. Open-access publishing leads to an increase in the number of citations and leads to collaborations between researchers and between researchers and other bodies.

Many public bodies and research foundations will allow researchers to use research grants if they will publish their work only in open access publications. 

Open access materials in the fields of health, welfare, industry, economy, or security can influence policymaking in these areas and allow unlimited access to research publications for anyone, anywhere because research is accessible to all.

Disadvantages of Open Access:

Publication Cost: Readers do not pay to read the article, but someone has to fund the publishing costs. Sometimes the costs of publishing are the responsibility of the researcher himself, or the institution to which he belongs or the body that finances the publication.
Lack of quality control: It is argued that journals in the open access model encourage the publication of more articles and this causes a decrease in the quality of publications.
Sustainability: Traditional models ensure that publishers receive adequate compensation for making the publication accessible. Open access does not compensate the publisher.

Open access manuscripts are published in full-access or hybrid academic journals, as well as on the library repository sites, in institutional databases, disciplinary databases, or independent archives.

There are several models in the world for open access publishing, among them the golden open access model and the green open access model.

Golden Open access Model:

• Publication in full open access journals or hybrid journals (which combine paid articles for subscribers with open access articles).
• The researcher is required to pay APC - Article Processing Costs for the publication. The cost of treatment fees can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars - a high fee, and this is the disadvantage of this model.
• Advantages of this model: Access to the publication is free and immediate (after peer review) as soon as the issue comes out, with no embargo period. The article is also available in many databases.

Green Open Access Model:

• As part of the green model, the article is published in a journal that is read on a subscription basis but can be distributed for free in a non-final version. The researcher can independently publish the article in a repository database in a non-final version at the same time as distributing it in a paid database.
• The repository database can belong to an academic institution, a national or international database, or on the researcher's personal website. Usually, the publishing does not involve a fee and this is the advantage of the green model. The pre-publication version that is not the final pre-print version will be uploaded to the repository database. The article in its full and final version will only be published at the end of the embargo period.
• One of the disadvantages of the green model is that there are multiple versions for one article: the version that is in the repository may be different from the final version. This makes it difficult to count citations and there may also be a delay in publication due to the embargo period.
  
  

The risks involved in implementing the open access model:

• Open access publishing increases the risk of infringement of the author's copyrights.
• Open access publishing makes it difficult to distinguish between peer review journals and journals that do not meet the required criteria.
• Open access publishing may lead to a lack of proper quality control and lack of peer-reviewed articles, and even encourage researchers to publish their research in Predatory Journals.

Open-access publishing requires preliminary planning:

• The researcher must ensure that he meets the requirements of the research fund, the publisher's publication conditions and at the same time ensure wide exposure of his research to the relevant readers.
• The researcher who publishes in the Golden model should locate open-access journals or hybrids. In this model, the researcher needs to plan the financing of the publication.
• Examination of the fund's publishing requirements: Does the fund require open access publishing? Which model? The golden or green model? What are the terms of the fund's publishing? Will they publish a version of the article before or after peer-review? Is there an embargo period? Does the fund recommend a specific repository? What permissions and usage rights should be given to readers? Is it possible to include in the application for a grant the coverage of the cost of the publishing?
• Sherpa Juliet is a useful tool for checking the latest policy of the selected fund, its requirements on open access, publication, and data archiving.
  It is important to check the latest policy of the elected funds on their website.
• Another tool that can be used is The Journal Checker Tool

• Golden Open Access Model:
  Finding an Open or Hybrid Journal: The researcher should check if there is an open or hybrid journal in the field of his research, what the quality index (Impact Factor) of the journal is and whether the rating is high. The researcher should also check what are the publishing costs and the open access publishing terms of the journal, which version can be deposited- the pre-print or final version, what are the readers' usage rights, and what are the rights given to the author.
• You can use the Sherpa Romeo tool. 

Sherpa Romeo gathers the policies of various publishers on the subject.
The information displayed in Sherpa/Romeo includes distribution policy, version allowed for deposit in an institutional repository, embargo period, license type, sites allowed for deposit, and direct links to publishers' policy pages regarding the specific copyrights.

It is important to check the latest policy of the selected journals on their website.

To determine an author's rights for a previously published article, it's essential to review the specific agreement signed between the author and the publisher. This contract outlines the terms and conditions governing the use and distribution of the work, including any rights retained by the author or transferred to the publisher.

Green Open Access Model:

• Locating a repository database: Check whether the article will also be published in a regular journal distributed to paid subscribers, whether there are databases relevant to the research topic, whether the research fund recommends a particular repository database, and what the depository process is.
• OpenDOAR is a global Directory of Open Access Repositories. The researchers can search and browse through thousands of registered repositories based on a range of features, such as location, topic, or type of
  material held
  
  

What are the usage rights granted to the author?

• Until it is accepted for publication in the journal, the rights belong to the author. The copyrights of an article published in a journal belong to the publisher of that journal and any use of it such as self-archiving, uploading the article to an author's or university's website, sharing on social media and more, is subject to the publishers' approval.
• Each publisher has its copyright policy - this policy is  published on the publisher's website as well as in the
  contract signed between the publisher and the author.
• When the publisher's terms do not allow for self-archiving, many researchers negotiate to preserve this right.

There are several options for securing the author's copyright:

There are several options for securing the author's copyright:
Open Access and Author Rights in Academic Publishing
In recent years, the academic world has seen a growing trend towards Open Access (OA) publishing. This movement encourages authors to retain ownership of their work while making it freely available to readers.
When publishing your research, it's crucial to understand your options and rights in relation to the publisher.
Options for Managing Rights with the Publisher:

• You can use the Scholar's Copyright Addendum Engine appendix or an amendment to the contract that will be attached to the agreement sent by the publisher. The appendix indicates what rights the author reserves for himself after sending the article to the publisher.
• There are other initiatives such as BTAA or SPARC.
• In addition, authors can apply to sign a License to Publish instead of transferring the rights in full:
  the authors retain their rights and transfer only the publishing right to the publisher.
• Another way is to ask the publisher to release their work through Creative Commons or pre-select publishers that retain the authors' rights.
  See more: https://creativecommons.org/licenses
•  The license determines the distribution and use terms of the publication. The types of licenses leaving most of the rights with the author are CC BY 4.0 (for documents), CC0 (for data) and GNU-GPL (for software and codes), however all the publishers enable the choosing thereof
• It is important for the author to be familiar with the various types of licenses to understand the terms offered by the publisher and to make the correct choice. Being familiar with the type of license agreed with the publisher will also help the author to define the terms of use of his publication if and when he wishes to deposit it in an intuitional or field repository.
• Signature Request on License to Publish (License to Publish) instead of the practiced transfer of rights agreement. The License to Publish grants the publisher a permit to publish the article, however the author keeps the copyrights
• Once the author’s rights are secured, he may make his work accessible through the article archiving in the institutional repository.
• Creative Commons licenses enable an author to determine which uses for the public e are permitted with regard to an article and under which conditions.
• When approaching publishers, authors can request to retain specific rights in a free-form communication. Authors can request permission to publish in different versions or publish on the researcher's personal site or professional social networks.
• Only after securing the necessary rights, can authors proceed to make their publication widely available
• These licenses provide a standardized framework for granting copyright permissions while maintaining control over usage rights
• Creative Commons licenses allow the author to permitted uses of their work by the public, and under what conditions
• The embargo period is defined as the period during which the material accepted for publication cannot be deposited in the deposit databases (in accordance with the terms of  the license).
  The publisher had a different policy regarding the embargo period. You can contact the publisher's website to check the embargo period
• The embargo period is a crucial aspect of publication  agreements: it's defined the time during which the accepted material cannot be deposited in repositories in accordance with the terms of the license
• Embargo policies differ among publishers.
• Authors should check the publisher's website or contact them directly to confirm the specific embargo period for their work