Open Access Publishing

Authors can self-archive their work by uploading a copy of their manuscript to a personal website or depositing a copy in an open repository. Open access repositories are digital platforms that provide free access to scholarly publications, research data, and other academic resources. They allow authors to make their work openly accessible to the public, without the traditional barriers of cost and subscription fees. They can be discipline-specific or multi-disciplinary, and can be managed by academic institutions, scholarly societies, or commercial entities. See, for example, OpenDOAR for a list of open access repositories, searchable by locale, content, and other measures.

Many publishers, of both books and journals, offer some or all of their content open access. Some publishers charge authors fees to cover the costs of publishing and making the content freely available, while others may not charge fees but instead rely on other sources of funding. There are a number of factors to consider when choosing a publisher including your rights as an author, the peer-review process, submission guidelines, archiving and preservation practices, and visibility and impact.

These are online platforms that allow researchers, scholars, and academics to connect, collaborate, and share their research and expertise with others in their field. Some of these sites, like ResearchGate and Academia.edu, though ostensibly free, are run by for-profit companies who may or may not sell your private data. As such, sharing your work on their sites may be a violation of your publication agreement. Others sites, such as Humanities Commons or ScholarlyHub, are nonprofit groups run by and for scholars. In addition, many of these nonprofit organizations have an explicit mission to support the open dissemination of scholarship through open access.

Transformative Agreements for NJIT Authors research guide

Dgital Commons Institutional Repository