Open Access

For already published scholarship

Determine the copyright status of your already published works by browsing the Jisc Open policy finder.

Find an Open Access Journal

The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is a community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals. The directory currently includes almost 9,000 journals. 

Find an Open Access Repository

To find an open access repository, search the OpenDOAR database. OpenDOAR is an authoritative directory of academic open access repositories.

Submit to WCU's institutional repository (IR)

Scholar Central houses the scholarly output of WCU students and faculty. Why archive your work there?

• Each work is archived permanently, with a stable server and a URL that will never break.
• Authors with works deposited in institutional repositories enjoy a larger community of readers. Although Scholar Central has its own search interface, many researchers will use a search engine such as Google to discover works archived in the repository. Content in Scholar Central is discoverable through Google and Google Scholar searches.
• Researchers worldwide have continuous and perpetual access to works in Scholar Central at no cost.
• As a result of this discoverability and free access, works that are posted in repositories like Scholar Central tend to be read more and cited more.
• For WCU, Scholar Central is a great way of validating and showcasing the value of the university's student and faculty research to society.

Any faculty member interested in contributing works to WCU's IR, Scholar Central, should contact Scottie Kapel, skapel@wcu.edu.

Preserve your rights as an author - do not automatically sign the publisher's "Copyright Transfer Agreement." Use the SPARC Author Addendum when you submit a publication to a publisher.

Know Your Rights As the Author

• The author is the copyright holder. As the author of a work you are the copyright holder unless and until you transfer the copyright to someone else in a signed agreement.
• Assigning your rights matters. Normally, the copyright holder possesses the exclusive rights of reproduction, distribution, public performance, public display, and modification of the original work. An author who has transferred copyright without retaining these rights must ask permission unless the use is one of the statutory exemptions in copyright law.
• The copyright holder controls the work. Decisions concerning use of the work, such as distribution, access, pricing, updates, and any use restrictions belong to the copyright holder. Authors who have transferred their copyright without retaining any rights may not be able to place the work on course Web sites, copy it for students or colleagues, deposit the work in a public online archive, or reuse portions in a subsequent work. That’s why it is important to retain the rights you need.
• Transferring copyright doesn’t have to be all or nothing. The law allows you to transfer copyright while holding back rights for yourself and others. This is the compromise that the SPARC Author Addendum helps you to achieve. 

Scrutinize the Publication Agreement

• Read the publication agreement with great care. Publishers’ agreements (often titled “Copyright Transfer Agreement”) have traditionally been used to transfer copyright or key use rights from author to publisher. They are written by publishers and may capture more of your rights than are necessary to publish the work. Ensuring the agreement is balanced and has a clear statement of your rights is up to you.
• Publishing agreements are negotiable. Publishers require only your permission to publish an article, not a wholesale transfer of copyright. Hold onto rights to make use of the work in ways that serve your needs and that promote education and research activities.
• Value the copyright in your intellectual property. A journal article is often the culmination of years of study, research, and hard work. The more the article is read and cited, the greater its value. But if you give away control in the copyright agreement, you may limit its use. Before transferring ownership of your intellectual output, understand the consequences and options.

What if the Publisher Rejects the Author Addendum?

• Explain to the publisher why it is important for you to retain these rights in your own work.
• Ask the publisher to articulate why the license rights provided under the SPARC Author Addendum are insufficient to allow publication.
• Evaluate the adequacy of the publisher’s response in light of the reasonable and growing need for authors to retain certain key rights to their works.
• Consider publishing with an organization that will facilitate the widest dissemination of their authors’ works, to help them fulfill their personal and professional goals as scholars.

How do you avoid publishing with a Predatory Publisher?

Reputable OA journals should meet the following standards:

• Provide unfettered (freely accessible) access to all peer-reviewed articles.
• Be a member of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association OR adhere to its Code of Conduct.
• Offer a standard article fee schedule for public view.
• Have a policy to waive fees in cases of economic hardship.
• The journal should be indexed in a major indexing and abstracting service such as Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed and others. You can confirm the locations where a journal is indexed by consulting with Ulrich's Periodicals Directory. 
• Most open access journals allow the author to retain their copyright.

If a journal you are considering publishing in is sending up red flags by not meeting these standards, it might be better to consider another place to publish your article.

For more information, click "Task 3: Avoid Predatory Publishers" below.