Our Care Sites
Trinity Health IHA Medical Group
Serving Southeast Michigan
Trinity Health Medical Group
Serving West Michigan
Probility Physical Therapy
Physical therapy services
Trinity Elite Sports Performance
Athletic development services
Back to homepage
MyChart

Publishing and Open Access

A lab worker conducts research using test tubes

Open Access (OA) is a publication model that promotes free and open access to scholarly publications. OA flips the traditional journal subscription model in that instead of the subscriber paying to access the material, the author either pays to promote the material (which is then freely accessible to many more readers) or the entire publication is completely open access online.

Why Open Access?

  • Higher visibility: Without a paywall, you will have more readers.
  • Availability: Nearly every major publisher now has an open access publishing option in all of their journals, if not journals that are completely open access.
  • Finances: The more the industry moves to this model, the less cost will be a prohibitive factor in the information industry. Publishing your research in an open access publication furthers the efforts to level the playing field in scholarly publishing.
  • Granting Agency Requirements: For example, the NIH Public Access Policy requires all researchers who have an NIH grant to make that grant-funded work freely available either immediately or after an embargo. Many funding organizations are going this direction for not only the publications but also for the data.

Why not Open Access?

  • Article Processing Fee (APF): Authors can be charged fees that are sometimes rather high for their submissions. For researchers without financial support from their institutions, this can be difficult.
  • Journal Reputation/Impact Factors: In some fields, the impact factor is of the publications in which you chose to publish greatly affect your standing in that field. Yet, some of these newer open access publication options are still building recognition and impact factors.
  • Niche Audience: Some fields rely on one or two main publications for their work, some of which might not have entered the open access arena yet.

How to pick an Open Access publication?

  • There are two ways to publish OA: 
    • Gold Open Access: Publish in a journal that will make your article open access right away. Sherpa Romeo is an excellent website to help you find those publications.
    • Green Open Access: Self-archive your work on a faculty page or in a repository to make it open access right away (note: you will have to sign the right copyright agreement to be able to do this).
  • Utilize Journal Quality Indicators: Think Check Submit walks you through the vetting process.
  • Avoid Publishing Scams: Beall's List of Predatory Journals and Publishers lists open access journals that you should not publish in and Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) lists open access journals that have been vetted thoroughly and that you can trust.

Further Reading

  • Scholarly Publishing and Academic Research Coalition (SPARC) partners with publishers to develop alternatives and competition to high-priced journals and encourages change in the system of communication.
  • Creative Commons is an American non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share.

For more information on Open Access Publishing, please contact Caralee Witteveen-Lane at Caralee.witteveen-lane@trinity-health.org or at 616-685-6243. You can also contact Lauren Jackson at 231-672-8512.