Open Access FAQ
The document sets out the rules for publishing in open access the results of research (mainly articles in peer-reviewed journals, but also e.g. peer-reviewed conference proceedings or original research data) resulting from research projects funded or co-financed with public funds for science.
The OA policy includes information on publication pathways that meet the criteria for compliance with Plan S, cost eligibility and other licensing and copyright retention guidelines, as well as a timeline for changes to certain provisions.
NCN website on Open Science (in Polish)
What is open access (OA)?
Open Access – OA - is the possibility to use scientific publications, research results and teaching materials via the Internet without restrictions or fees.
OA means free reading, printing, copying, dissemination, linking, electronic storage, indexing without interfering with the content of the document, respecting copyright and the obligation of correct citation.
The aim of the OA movement is to make scientific communication independent of commercial intermediaries and to organise the circulation of information in such a way that academics can disseminate the results of their own research without hindrance and use the research results of other scientists, so that science investments are used as efficiently as possible.
Read: Open Access dla początkujących.Dlaczego warto i jak zacząć udostępniać swoje prace w otwartym dostępie. (pdf; 352 KB)
What are the benefits of open access?
Benefits for publishers, e.g. academics:
- promotion and development of own research,
- speed of publication,
- greater visibility in the world,
- increase in citations (higher Hirsh index),
- greater opportunities for scientific cooperation, exchange of knowledge and experience,
- knowledge of the state of research in the field,
- transparency of scientific research (reduction of plagiarism),
- easier access to beneficiaries,
- data archiving.
Benefits for recipients of scientific content, e.g. students:
- free and quick access to learning materials,
- better quality of education,
- facilitating the writing of dissertations,
- saving time and money.
For funders, e.g. universities, Ministry of Education and Science:
- visibility of the university/country in the world,
- promoting the scientific achievements of staff,
- a new marketing tool,
- simplified archiving,
- better management and monitoring of university/national research.
What is an Open Access journal?
Open Access (OA), or open access journal, is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that makes its articles freely available to readers.
Selected magazine services:
- DOAJ - Directory of Open Access Journals - the most well-known catalogue of open access journals, containing nearly 1,000 titles (including more than 160 Polish ones),
- Free Medical Journals - contains more than 4,000 full-text journals in medicine and related sciences,
- BioMed Central - publisher of more than 250 peer-reviewed open-access journals in science, technology and medicine,
- PLOS Medicine - a peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing scientific papers in the field of health care, under a free licence,
- ARIANTA - Scientific and Industrial Polish Electronic Journals - a database created at the University of Silesia, contains nearly 4,000 journal titles.
What is a repository?
Repositories are electronic archives available online. They collect, make available, and serve to manage materials related to science. They may contain journal articles (reprint, postprint or final issue), doctoral theses, conference proceedings, raw data, teaching materials, etc. Repositories are mostly created by institutions, such as universities.
Selected domain repositories:
- PubMed Central - archive of full-text biomedical journal articles created by the US National Library of Medicine,
- High Wire Press - a platform for journals and books from university publishers in medicine and related sciences,
- ECNIS Repository - contains publications, reports and presentations in the fields of toxicology, epidemiology, nutrition and food, chemistry and molecular biology.
- Science of Library - a multidisciplinary repository containing the full texts of journal articles and books.
Selected institutional repositories:
- UMK Repository (in polish) - collects, stores and makes available the digital documents of the staff and doctoral students of the University,
- Warsaw University of Technology - collects, among other things, master's and engineering theses, doctoral dissertations, journal articles,
- ICR Repository - Includes publications from researchers at the Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden.
What is Open Research Europe (ORE)?
Open Research Europe (ORE) - is an open access publishing platform created on behalf of the European Commission, which at the same time provides independent reviewers and is free of charge to all beneficiaries of the Framework Programmes.
Publishing on the platform is an alternative to publishing in scientific journals.
What is the 'golden access channel'?
"Gold channel" is what we call open access to articles published in the electronic scientific journals, stored on the publishers' servers.
Read: What is an Open Access journal?
What is a 'green access channel'?
"Green channel" we call access to scientific content through repositories, which are electronic archives available online. Repositories can be institutional (e.g. university repositories), domain-specific (e.g. medical PubMed Central).
Read: What is a repository?
What are hybrid magazines?
Hybrid journals are journals in which only some of the articles are available to read for free. These are commercial journals that allow authors to publish an article in the OA model for an additional fee.
Currently, all major commercial publishers offer an OA option in their journals. Publication in the OA model in some publishers is subsidised by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. More - Open access publishing programmes.
Who pays the costs of publishing in the Open Access model?
Free access does not mean that the publisher does not pay the costs of publication. The publisher must finance, among other things, editorial preparation or the purchase of computer equipment (server).
The costs of publishing an OA journal are often passed on to the authors or their funding institutions. An author who wishes to publish his or her work in the OA model has to reckon with the fact that the cost of such a publication (article processing charge – APC) may be greater than publishing in the traditional model. Publication in the OA model in some publishers is subsidised by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education - read Open access publishing programmes.
Alternative methods for journals to raise funds include government or institutional grants, sponsorship from foundations or scientific associations, and advertising.
What is the copyright issue in the Open Access model?
Publishing in OA sources in most cases allows authors to retain their economic copyright, i.e. the right to dispose of the work and receive gratification for making it available. In the traditional model of commercial journals, the contract with the publisher usually provides for the transfer of these rights to the publisher.
Repositories use non-exclusive or Creative Commons licences. A non-exclusive licence gives the author freedom when he or she wants to transfer his or her work to another party without the permission of the repository. The idea behind Creative Commons licences is to reserve only certain rights and thus allow the author a more flexible scope of protection for the work.
Read more at Creative Commons.
In a situation where an author has published an article in a commercial journal and wants to place it in a repository, the author should ascertain the publisher's policy on this. The author needs to check what kind of contract he or she has signed and whether the publisher in question allows the publication to be placed in the repository.
Portal SHERPA/RoMEO makes it possible to find out the policy of the publishers of specific journal titles concerning the scope of author's rights.
How do I find an open access journal with an Impact Factor?
Service Free Medical Journals - makes it easy to find a journal with an IF by providing the IF value next to the titles and by creating rankings of high-scoring journals.
The IF value provided by the service should be checked in Journal Citation Reports (access only on the university's network or via remote working or proxy service).