Choose an open access or other publishing pathway that suits your output, audience, discipline, funding and requirements.

A Read & Publish agreement is only one route to open access. Depending on your publishing goals, you may consider other options, including Gold, Diamond or Green open access, as well as subscription publishing.

The most appropriate route will also depend on the type of research output you are publishing, such as a journal article, book, book chapter, conference paper, report, dataset, code or supplementary material.

Open access does not always require payment of an article processing charge (APC). You may be able to publish Gold open access through a Read & Publish agreement, choose a Diamond open access journal, or make the author accepted manuscript (AAM) (also known as accepted version) openly available through Research Profiles and Repository.

Australian Research Council (ARC) and National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funded research

The ARC and NHMRC both have mandatory open access requirements as part of their funding policies.

• If you have funding from the ARC, their Open Access Policy applies to all your research outputs from the ARC funding.
• If you have funding from the NHMRC, it’s important to know that the NHMRC open access requirements vary depending on the year when your grant or scholarship was awarded.

Open access journal article pathways

If you, your funder or institution can fund an APC, consider:

• Gold open access

  Publish in a fully open access journal. Articles are freely available immediately, although an APC may apply. Several Read & Publish agreements include Gold open access journals which may be APC-free, so consider starting with the Read & Publish agreement Title List. Use SCImago Journal and Country Rank or Journal Citation Reports (JCR) to check journal metrics.

• Publisher waivers or discounts

  Some publishers offer full waivers, partial waivers or discounts for APCs.

If you, your funder or institution cannot fund an APC, consider:

• Diamond open access

  Publish in a fully open access journal that charges neither authors nor readers. These journals may be funded by universities, scholarly societies or consortia.

  Search the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) for peer-reviewed open access journals and use the Diamond Discovery Hub to identify Diamond open access options. Use SCImago Journal and Country Rank or Journal Citation Reports (JCR) to check journal metrics.

• Green open access

  Publish in a subscription journal and deposit an eligible author accepted manuscript (AAM) in an open institutional or disciplinary repository. Check which version may be shared and whether an embargo applies.

  Use the Open policy finder (which replaced SHERPA/RoMEO) and confirm the conditions in your publishing agreement.

Other output types

Books, chapters, conference papers, reports, datasets, code, and non-traditional research outputs can also be made openly accessible where rights, ethics, privacy, cultural, security and contractual conditions permit.

For Western Sydney University authors developing other output types, go to Find a Conference, Publish Non-Traditional Research Outputs (NTROs) or Select a Book Publisher.

Check rights and requirements

Before choosing a pathway, check publisher credibility, peer review where appropriate, copyright, author rights, licence options, repository permissions, funder requirements, fees and any embargo.

Library support

Contact the Library Research Engagement Team for advice about Read & Publish Agreements, Green open access, publisher policies, embargoes and repository deposit.

Next step

• If you need to identify a suitable journal, go to Find a Suitable Journal
• If you need to identify a suitable conference, go to Find a Conference
• If you need to identify a suitable NTRO, go to Publish Non-Traditional Research Outputs (NTROs)
• If you need to identify a suitable book publisher, go to Select a Book Publisher
• If you did not identify a suitable journal, go back to your journal shortlist