Publish with open access
The university's policy for open publication states that research results should be published with open access provided that it is compatible with the aims and objectives of the research.
Open publishing for free access
Traditionally scientific results, mainly articles, have been published in journals with high subscription fees. In order to access the contents of these journals, readers must be affiliated to a university or other organisation who pays for the access.
The fundamental idea with open access is that all publicly funded research should be made available to everyone. Open access publishing means that authors publish their scientific results in ways that makes them available for everyone to read without any cost.
The university's policy for open publication states that research results should be published with open access provided that it is compatible with the aims and objectives of the research.
Policy for open publication (PDF in Swedish)
How to publish journal articles and conference papers open access
When you consider publishing your scientific results open access you have several options. You can publish directly in an open access publication, self-archive a copy of your article in an open archive, or publish in a hybrid journal. The first two methods of open access publishing are often referred to as "gold" and "green" open access.
Publish with open accesss for free or at a discount
Researchers at the University of Gothenburg can avoid publication fees or get discounts on them through the university library's agreements with a number of publishers.
Find journals where you can publish with a discount
In this search service, you can search for journals where you can publish open access without cost or with a discount on the publication fee.
How to use the discounts
The corresponding author who submits the manuscript must be affiliated with the University of Gothenburg. If you are several corresponding authors, the person affiliated with the university should submit the article.
Publish books open access
Open access books are books which are freely available to everyone. There are a number of publishers to choose from if you want to publish a book with open access. You can use the database Directory of Open Access Books to find a publisher.
To Directory of Open Access Books
Publish open access via Kriterium, in an Acta series or in Gupea
The University of Gothenburg offers three open access options for books, which are administered by the University Library: Kriterium, Acta series and Gupea.
There are a number of Acta series in which staff at the University of Gothenburg can publish their research. Publications are often distributed in both print and electronic form, the latter via Gupea.
Gupea is the University’s institutional repository, which contains both peer-reviewed publications and books published without peer review. Contact the Gupea support if you wish to co-publish a book.
Kriterium is a platform for the peer review of monographs and anthologies. Books reviewed via Kriterium are published by a publisher or an Actas series but are also made openly available via the Kriterium website.
About article processing charge (APC)
When publishing in an open-access journal, you often have to pay a publication fee to the publisher. The publication fee is called APC, article processing charge.
Researchers at the University of Gothenburg can publish open access without cost or with a discount on the publication fee through the University Library’s agreement with several publishers. The publishing fee is paid by the Gothenburg University Library. As for the costs for colour pages and figures etcetera, these are usually not covered by the APC charge.
How to self-archive
If you have published research results in a channel that is not open, you can self-archive a manuscript copy in an open repository to make it available open access. That way you will meet research funders' open access requirements at no extra cost and increase the visibility of your research results in search engines.
Self-archive in Gupea
Staff at the University of Gothenburg can publish open access by self-archiving in the University's repository Gupea.
Send a copy of your article manuscript to gupea@ub.gu.se, to self-archive in Gupea. The manuscript copy can be, for example, a manuscript for an article in a subscription magazine, a paper in a conference proceeding or a book chapter.
Set the publishing date
When you upload the copy, you must enter if there is an embargo for publishing. This means specifying the date you want to make your copy become available through Gupea.
Check the publisher's conditions for self-archiving if you are unsure of the embargo period. Also compare with the requirements on open access from your funder.
Requirements from research funders on open access
Swedish and international research funders have different requirements about how publicly funded research findings should be published open access.
What the requirements say
Research funders' requirements on open access publishing state that you must publish your research openly, either in an open access journal or by self-archiving in an open archive.
Different funders have different requirements on open access publishing. Requirements can stipulate that you publish under a certain license or that you must publish your research data. Requirements can also change over time and vary for different publication types. Check the current requirements from your funder.
Requirements that limit embargo
Funders often have demands on how soon your published findings are made freely available, when you don't publish in an open access journal directly.
Publishers, however, state an embargo in their terms and conditions. During the embargo you are not allowed to self-archive, which means there is a delay before you can make your findings freely available.
Be sure to check that your funder's requirements don't conflict with the terms and conditions from the publisher you plan to publish through.
More information about self-archiving
Explore requirements in Open policy finder
You can use the database Open policy finder to see what requirements different research funders have on open access publishing.
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