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Open access publishing and your author rights

Frequently asked questions

  • The following webpage provides an overview on open access (OA) definitions, OA publishing models, author rights, how the Libraries supports OA publishing, and complying with York's Senate Policy on Open Access.

Getting help

Open access (OA) is an electronic publishing model that prioritizes the greatest possible scholarly and public access to scholarship. It seeks to level the playing field among researchers worldwide by allowing equitable access to research, and prioritizes the ability for all citizens to share the results of publicly funded research.

Peter Suber, in his freely-available online book Open Access, offers the following definition:

"Open access (OA) literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions." (Suber, 4)

The term "open access" is now widely used in at least two senses. For some, OA literature is digital, online, and free of charge.  This is referred to as gratis OA, as it removes price barriers but not permission barriers. For others, OA literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of unnecessary copyright and licensing restrictions. This form of open access is called libre OA, as it removes both price barriers and permission barriers.  It allows reuse rights which exceed fair use. Journals that support libre OA often make use of Creative Commons licensing.

There are a number of open access (OA) publishing models for scholarly journals. Some of the common models for academic journals include:

  • Gold Open Access: In Gold OA publishing models, the published content in the journal is freely available to read for researchers. However, the author will be required to pay an article processing charge (APC) to publish in the journal.
  • Hybrid Open Access: In Hybrid OA publishing models (typically used by journals), the journal will have some articles that are available OA, while other articles will require researchers to have a subscription to the journal to access the content. Authors publishing in Hybrid OA journals can choose to pay an APC to make their article OA upon publication.
  • Diamond Open Access: Journals that use a Diamond OA publishing model do not require readers to pay a subscription to access the content. They also do not require authors to pay an APC to publish their articles.
  • Green Open Access or Self-Archiving: Green OA is a form of self-archiving by the author(s). Self-archiving is the act of depositing a version of a published article into an open access repository, such as an institutional repository, like YorkSpace, or a subject based repository. Learn more about using YorkSpace to self-archive your scholarly works. When you self-archive your work, it is important to review the journal's policies or use a tool like Jisc's Open policy finder to determine which article versions can be self-archived and if an embargo period applies.

Open Access (OA) monographs are typically scholarly, peer-reviewed online books that are made available in digital format with no charge and to anyone with an Internet connection. They are typically licensed under a Creative Commons license.  

Some OA monographs are essentially print books ported to the online environment, while many can also integrate functionality unique to the digital context such as audio, video, interactive data visualizations, maps and more. There are a variety of OA monograph business models, including institutional or foundation support, as well as OA monographs funded by the authors. Sales of print book versions can also support an OA online book version.  

Some Canadian Open Access Monograph publishers include: 

Some OA Monograph publishers include: 

Some additional resources are available here: 

Open access provides authors with the means to maximize their visibility and increase the usage and citation impact of their research. When authors retain the rights to share their work they can self-archive it in a digital repository, which makes their work available to everyone who may be interested, not just journal subscribers. This effectively enhances the public value of their research by opening it up to service providers such as Google, making it quicker and easier to access. Authors also boost their online presence and raise their research profile since Google and other web search engines index OA repositories, resulting in their availability to anyone with Web access

A number of studies have shown that openly accessible publications are cited more frequently. A recent study by Piwowar et al. (2018) revealed that, accounting for age and discipline, OA articles receive 18% more citations than average. The increased citation impact found in these studies is a direct result of the authors making their work open access so that more people can read and cite it.

In summary, open access offers the following benefits:

  • OA promotes equitable access to research for scholars and the global public
  • OA increases the dissemination of research works, which in return enhances the impact of research (citation count, reputation, visibility, etc.).
  • OA offers research greater control of their published work, for example, distributing one's work to colleagues and students
  • Self-archiving of preprints allows one's work to be accessible before it is officially published. This strategy allows researchers to claim a particular finding in a timely way and is helpful in disciplines where advances happen at a rapid pace
  • OA reduces the costs for students to access teaching and research materials and for libraries to acquire materials.

Further Reading

Canadian Association of Research Libraries. (2017). Open Access.
SPARC. (2010). Digital repositories offer many practical benefits.
Chan, L. & Swan, A. (2010). Benefits of Open Access for research dissemination.
Lewis, C. (2018). The Open Access citation advantage: does it exist and what does it mean for libraries?
Piwowar H. et al. (2018). The state of OA: a large-scale analysis of the prevalence and impact of Open Access articles.
Suber, P. (2012). Open Access. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Wheeler J. et al. (2022). Impact factions: assessing the citation impact of different types of open access repositories.

From the moment an author first creates a work, they become the original copyright holder of that work and retain control over how it is used. As the author of an article, book chapter or other scholarly output, you are automatically the copyright holder unless and until you transfer the copyright to someone else in a signed agreement. Normally, the copyright holder possesses the exclusive rights of reproduction, distribution, public performance, public display, and modification of their original work. An author who has transferred copyright without retaining these rights must ask permission unless the use is one of the statutory exemptions in copyright law. [1]  

Publisher agreements routinely ask authors to transfer copyright and associated author rights over to them once an item is to be formally published. Authors wishing or needing to retain certain author rights should carefully review the terms of their agreement with a publisher and expect to negotiate directly with publishers. Authors that have already published and want to know their publisher’s copyright policies can use the Jisc Open Policy Finder website (formerly Sherpa/Romeo) to run a search by publisher or journal.

To learn more about your author rights or options for negotiating with publishers, contact the Libraries at opendeposit@yorku.ca to make an appointment or consult the below resources:

CARL Guide to Author Rights (Canadian Association of Research Libraries)

SPARC and the Author Addendum (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition)

[1] Adapted from Author Rights: Using the SPARC Author Addendum. SPARC. (CC BY 4.0) Retrieved from https://sparcopen.org/our-work/author-rights/brochure-html/

Open access for journal articles is achievable in two ways. The first option, the “green route” is centered around publishing in a subscription-based journal, with a copy of the article being placed in an institutional repository (called self-archiving). This practice usually requires a researcher to keep a copy of their author accepted manuscript (aka postprint) so it can be deposited into a disciplinary or institutional open access repository. The author accepted manuscript is the last version of your accepted manuscript, including all changes made after peer-review before any typesetting or copyediting by the publisher. The second option, the “gold route” involves publishing in a fully open access journal. For journals that use Article Processing Charges (APCs) as a means to fund open access, these APCs are eligible expenses under the Tri-Agency terms for the use of grant funds.

Researchers wishing to self-archive by depositing a copy of an article in YorkSpace can fill out the online YorkSpace deposit form. More information about self-archiving in YorkSpace is available on the Self-Archiving Support webpage. Additionally, York researchers can reach out to diginit@yorku.ca for more information.

York University Libraries continues to fund open access publishing and open scholarship efforts at the University and in Canada through initiatives such as:

  • agreements with various publishers to secure discounts for York authors that incur author processing charges for publishing in open access (see full list below);
  • memberships and funding commitments with leading open scholarship infrastructure organizations such as the Public Knowledge Project (PKP), the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), and the Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services (SCOSS); 
  • provision of digital publishing support through York University Digital Journals program;
  • management of YorkSpace, York University’s institutional repository, and associated open access publishing support services;
  • campus partnerships with the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, and the Office of Research Services.

At its meeting on June 25, 2019, the Senate of York University approved an Open Access Policy, reinforcing York’s commitment to the democratization of knowledge by making its research widely accessible to citizenry and the global community. The policy establishes the expectation that York University researchers will submit their scholarly articles to the open digital repository at York University (Yorkspace, Osgoode Digital Commons) or its equivalent.

Researchers who publish in traditional subscription-based scholarly journals can comply with the Senate Policy on Open Access through the practice of self-archiving. This practice requires a researcher to keep a copy of their author accepted manuscript (aka post print) so it can be deposited into a disciplinary or institutional open access repository (green open access).

Researchers wishing to self-archive by depositing a copy of an article in YorkSpace can fill out the online YorkSpace deposit form. More information about self-archiving in YorkSpace is available on the Self-Archiving Support webpage. Additionally, York researchers can reach out to diginit@yorku.ca for more information.

To seek assistance on locating alternative repositories for depositing your research, please contact the Libraries at opendeposit@yorku.ca. To learn more about the Senate Policy on Open Access, please consult the following FAQ:

York University Senate Policy on Open Access: Frequently Asked Questions