Open Access (OA) is a model of scholarly communication that promotes the accessibility of results of research (CARL, n.d.). “Scholarly research that is published in open access is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions (although it does require that proper attribution of works be given to authors)” (CARL, n.d.).
Benefits of OA Publishing
According to PLOS, some of the many benefits associated with publishing in OA journals include:
- increased citations due to increased discoverability of research,
- authors retain copyright
- articles that are fully indexed, easily searchable, machine-readable, and open to text and data mining so anyone can find them online, and
- free and unrestricted access to research for readers.
Article Processing Charge (APC) Discounts
CUE-affiliated researchers may take advantage of the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN)-negotiated APC discounts from the following publishers:
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Elsevier/ScienceDirect
- SAGE
For details about each of the available APC discounts and lists of eligible journals, visit CRKN’s webpage: https://www.crkn-rcdr.ca/en/crkn-negotiated-apc-discounts
Free Journal Finding Tools
JournalFinder*, Journal Guide, and Journal/Author Name Estimator (JANE)** are free online tools designed to help researchers find journals that are suitable for the publication of their research. Simply copy and paste your manuscript’s title, abstract, or relevant keywords into the appropriate search box to receive a list of suitable journals.
*JournalFinder is an Elsevier product and will only return Elsevier journals. **Health sciences only.
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
Researchers may also consult the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) to find quality open access journals. Launched in 2003, DOAJ is a community-curated list of quality, peer-reviewed open access journals that adhere to a range of ethical and quality standards. Covering more than 13,000 open access journals from over 300 areas of study, DOAJ is used by many organizations worldwide as a starting point for information searches for open access material of the highest quality.
DOAJ’s mission is to “increase the visibility, accessibility, reputation, usage and impact of quality, peer-reviewed, open access scholarly research journals globally, regardless of discipline, geography or language.” DOAJ is fully committed to taking action to combat questionable publishers and questionable publishing practices.
For any questions related to scholarly publishing and finding the right place to publish, please contact Victoria Eke, Scholarly Communications Librarian, by email at victoria.eke@concordia.ab.ca