Open access

Making your AAM open

The most commonly used route to OA that requires no additional payment. If as an Edge Hill author you cannot take advantage of any of the publisher agreements under the Gold route, then your option is to go Green.

The Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) is uploaded to an institutional repository and made available under a Creative Commons licence. The publisher usually specifies an embargo period before the AAM can be made available. Pure is Edge Hill’s institutional repository, where you can deposit your AAM.

Embargo periods vary depending on the publisher but are typically between 6 and 24 months. Funders and REF guidelines have policies on the maximum embargoes allowed (if any). You should check requirements against journal policies. Use Sherpa Romeo to check the embargo periods and policies of individual journals.

Certain publishers like IEEE and Emerald do not have embargo periods and allow AAMs to be made available via Pure on publication if not before.

Publisher agreements

The article is made freely available immediately on publication under a Creative Commons licence on the publisher’s website. This route is dependent on paying a fee, an Article Processing Charge (APC). There are two types of journal that offer Gold OA:

• Fully Gold journals only publish OA papers and therefore you must pay a fee to publish.
• Hybrid journals give you a choice of whether you want to publish via Gold OA or via the subscription model. A fee will be applicable if you choose the Gold OA route.

The University has signed a number of agreements with publishers allowing Edge Hill corresponding authors to publish Gold open access with no APCs. These deals cover original research journal articles, non-commissioned review articles and conference proceedings with an ISSN. They do not fund data articles, protocols, editorial material, invited reviews, book reviews and commentaries. The usual way for Edge Hill authors to follow the Gold route is to take advantage of our publisher agreements.

Remember:

• The corresponding author must have a current affiliation with EHU. If publishing with a former student or with colleagues outside EHU, ensure you are the corresponding author.
• Use your staff or student email address when submitting, not a personal one.
• If given the option, we recommend signing up for ‘institutional open access’ when you first submit.
• Read through the terms linked to the agreement to ensure the journal you have chosen is included. If unsure, please contact Judith Carr, Head of Open Research Services.

If, as an Edge Hill corresponding author, you cannot take advantage of a publisher agreement, another option is to follow the Green route.

Open Access journals

Taking this route means that scholarly publications are publicly available with no embargo period at no cost to either author or reader. Diamond OA journals are community-driven, academic-led and academic-owned publishing initiatives.

To find Diamond OA journals, search The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).

Examples of open access journals:

PRISM

PRISM: Casting New Light on Learning, Theory and Practice is a community Diamond open access journal. The Editor-in-Chief is Dr David Allan (Edge Hill) and the journal is run via the Liverpool John Moores University open journal service.

Open Library of Humanities (OLH)

Anyone can publish open access without charge in OLH journals. They include 19: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century, Studies in the Maternal, Le Foucaldien, Political Philosophy and Review of the History of Economic Thought and Methodology. All the journals’ academic articles are subject to rigorous peer review and showcase some of the most dynamic research in humanities disciplines today – from classics, modern languages and cultures, philosophy, theology and history, to political theory, sociology, anthropology, film and new media studies, and digital humanities. OLH’s portfolio of journals is continuing to grow, with new titles transferring from other publishers to become diamond open access. Edge Hill is a paying member of the scheme, which supports this progressive open publishing model.