Different Types of Open Access and the Role of Preprints in Open Access Publishing

Open Access (OA) is a movement aimed at making scientific research freely available. Any user can read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to full-text articles. They can be used for any other legal purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers. All you need is internet access.

Open Access is categorized into different types. Preprint is a distinct and powerful implementation of the Green Open Access model, which is based on the principle of self-archiving.

🍀Green Open Access

Separate to their research being published by a journal, authors will also make their work available for download from their own website. This ensures that the content will remain available from the author.

Occasionally, the work may be placed under an embargo before being made available, but this is not always the case. Another variant of this is called a “post print”, which is when the author publishes a pre-published version of the manuscript (though after publication). This might be, for example, the version of the manuscript provided to the authors after peer review and language editing have occurred. It is not the final version, but all the important information is present.

Preprints as a Form of Green Open Access

A preprint is a version of a scholarly paper shared on a public server before it has undergone formal peer review. It takes Green Open Access a step further by allowing authors to self-archive their manuscripts before peer review, making their findings immediately available without any embargo period. [1]

At Preprints.org, we empower researchers to freely and instantly share their work with a global audience. This helps you gain early feedback, boost visibility, and accelerate discovery. While we do not replace formal open access models, it does help early-career or budget-conscious researchers. [2]

Integration of Preprints into Open Access Publishing

It is crucial to understand that preprints do not replace formal peer review; they complement it. [3] The journey of a modern research paper often looks like this:

1. Preprint: The initial findings are shared rapidly with the community.
2. Community Feedback: The author receives early comments and feedback.
3. Formal Peer Review: The paper undergoes a structured review.
4. Publication: The final, validated Version of Record is published, often linked back to the original preprint to create a transparent history of the work.

Ready to submit? Upload your preprint with Preprints.org today and make your work quickly discoverable.

🔔Gold open access

Gold open access is one of the most (if not the most) common forms of open access publishing. Here, authors and/or institutions cover the publishing fees associated with the manuscript. These fees are typically referred to as “article processing charges” (or APCs). Articles published under gold open access are licensed for sharing and reuse, usually under a CC BY Creative Commons license. Importantly, authors retain full copyright over their work.

💎Diamond open access

This particular type of open access differs from gold open access in that neither the authors nor the readers pay fees. This type of open access has several names, and is sometimes referred to as open access commons.

🧩Hybrid open access

As its name suggests, hybrid open access is a blend of two systems. While authors can pay an APC to make their research open access, other content remains behind a paywall.

While this type of open access might seem to have both the pros and cons of open access and traditional publishing, it remains problematic. Authors might see less dissemination of their work if it is stuck behind a paywall. And without a firm commitment to open access, potential authors might not know what to make of hybrid open access. This isn’t to say that the hybrid system doesn’t work, only that when you have the merits of both systems, you also have the drawbacks of both.

💼Bronze open access

This type of open access is where things start to get hazy. Open access articles that fall under this type of OA are free to read, but copying and redistribution rules are not clear. This lack of clarity and clearly identifiable licenses on reuse details means that that there might be problems if someone tries to share or redistribute this type of open access content.

💣Black open access

Unlike all other types of open access, black open access is not really “open access”.

Black open access is the illegal sharing of copyrighted materials. This is done to avoid paywalls and circumvent subscriptions, but at the end of the day it can negatively impact the revenue streams of publishers, which in turn can adversely affect the industry as a whole.

Reference

[1] Open Access Network. (n.d.). https://open-access.network/en/information/publishing/preprints

[2] Preprints.org - the multidisciplinary preprint platform. (n.d.). https://www.preprints.org/

[3] Sarabipour S, Debat HJ, Emmott E, Burgess SJ, Schwessinger B, et al. (2019) On the value of preprints: An early career researcher perspective. PLOS Biology 17(2): e3000151. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000151