Open access (OA) refers to freely available, digital, online information.What makes it possible is the the consent of the author or copyright-holder. OA is often falls into two different categories: Gratis & Libre.
Gratis open access literature is free to access, download, read, and save, but does not come with a permissible license allowing its reuse.
Libre open access literature meets the definition on gratis OA and is free use. These works are often released under a Creative Commons License.
There are many types of open access journals, and they fall into different publishing models:
- Gold - the publisher makes articles fully accessible on the journal website under a Creative Commons or similar license. An Article Publishing Charge (APC) is usually paid by the author.
- Green - refers to self-archiving generally of the pre or post-print of articles in repositories.
- Diamond/Platinum - journals that publish OA but do not charge APCs. Institutions, advertising, philanthropy, etc, fund these.
- Bronze journals - those that are free to read online but do not have a license—are not generally available for reuse.
- Hybrid – a subscription journal where the publisher allows authors to pay to make individual articles open access. Differs from a Gold OA journal because a library (or other subscriber) is still paying for a subscription to the journal, so the publisher is effectively paid twice for the article, once via subscription, and once via the APC to make the article OA.
