Open Access

Welcome to our Open Access Guide

This guide is meant to provide more information on open access, as well as to provide links to openly licensed resources 

According to the UNESCO, open access (OA) means "free access to information and unrestricted use of electronic resources for everyone. Any kind of digital content can be OA, from texts and data to software, audio, video, and multi-media. While most of these are related to text only, a growing number are integrating text with images, data, and executable code. OA can also apply to non-scholarly content, like music, movies, and novels" (taken from UNESCO Open Access Publication) 

Open access is gaining momentum all over the world. To gain a better understanding of open access, watch this video created by PHDComics which will give you a brief history and background on this topic. 

In addition, it allows for compliance with funding requirements as several funding bodies (e.g. MOE Tier 2 and 3, NRF Competitive Research Programme, A*STAR, NMRC) require grant holders to make their publications  accessible to the public within 12 months of publication.

Gold Open Access

This refers to publishing in a fully open access journal or publication. Access to the full content is provided by the publishers and is immediate.

Green Open Access

This refers to publishing in subscribed journals and making it available via the institution’s repository. (link to our Repository) or a subject repository. There may be an embargo period between 6-24 months, set by the publisher.

SUSS Library has worked with the following publishers on Transformative Agreements so that Faculty can publish articles in open access and hybrid journals without incurring any article processing charges (APCs).

Sherpa Romeo https://sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/

This is an online resource that has a compilation of the publisher and journal open access policies from around the world.

Think Check Submit https://thinkchecksubmit.org/

Provides a checklist to help access the suitability of publishers for your research.

Directory of Open Access Journals https://www.doaj.org/

Can be used to check a journal’s OA status.