Where to Publish Open Access?
There are various ways to publish Open Access: You can either take advantage of existing read-and-publish contracts or transformative agreements with publishers, publish in a traditional journal and self-archive your manuscript in a repository such as UZH's own ZORA, or publish your manuscript in a relevant Open Access journal or with an Open Access publisher.
Search for journals with the oa.finder
Theoa.finder shows you for over 57,000 journals where you can publish Open Access and whether the University Library covers the costs for the Open Access publication. If the University Library has a contract with the publisher that could potentially cover the costs for the publication, this is indicated in the oa.finder with "OA/Transformative agreement". It is also possible that the costs for the OA publication can be covered by the Library's publication fund or via funding from the SNSF.
Visit our tutorial on the oa.finder for more information.
Read-&-Publish contracts and funding opportunities from UZH
The University Library Zurich has agreed to Open Access contracts with academic publishers, which offer a full or partial discount on the Open Access publication fees to authors affiliated with the University of Zurich. Additionally, the University Library offers financial support for publications with gold Open Access journals or publishers if all funding criteria are met.
Self-archiving in ZORA
Many publishers allow you to self-archive your manuscript to make it accessible online. If you self-archive your manuscript, you usually make the accepted manuscript (final version without publisher's layout and logos) publicly accessible on a repository. This also lets you fulfill the SNSF's open access requirements.
Finding Gold or Diamond Open Access Journals
DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals
A good starting point for finding a suitable OA journal is the DOAJ. It is a global online directory of quality-checked OA journals, including more and more from from Switzerland.
Directory of Open Access Journals
B!SON
B!SON helps to find a suitable OA journal by using semantic and bibliometric methods. The data comes from the DOAJ.
Short tutorials on how to use oa.finder, the DOAJ and B!SON Search OA journal.
Be Aware of the Publishers: Gold ≠ Hybrid
Some journals offer authors the option of choosing between "Gold open access" and "subscription". Journals that offer this option are called "hybrid" journals.
Authors will have to pay for publishing open access in hybrid journals - similarly to gold Open Access Journals. Contrary to gold Open Access Journals, however, fees for hybrid journals will not be covered by most funding agencies or publication fonds.
How Do I Check the Quality of an OA Journal
An OA journal should meet the same qualitative requirements as conventional journals. A guide and food for thought for choosing the right journal:
Further Assessment Tools
These platforms help to choose a suitable journal according to the following criteria:
Cost-effectiveness - eigenfactor.org
How Do I Find an Open Access Book Publisher?
DOAB: Directory of Open Access Books
The online directory DOAB lists OA book publications with scientifically recognised quality levels. Thus, DOAB is a helpful tool to find not only publications but also trustworthy book publishers.
OAPEN: Online Library and Publication Platform
OAPEN is an initiative for OA publishing of monographs in the social sciences and humanities. Various university presses have joined the initiative and offer their publications freely via the OAPEN library.
Predatory Publishers and Journals
In recent years, the number of journals published by predatory publishers has skyrocketed. These are their strategies:
- High publication fees with no or insufficient quality assurance
- Lack of transparency with regard to quality control, fees, copyright
- Members of the editorial board do not exist, or the names of well-known researchers are used without their knowledge
- Imitation of names and design of renowned journals
- Use of falsified impact factors
- Spam mails promising an implausibly fast publication, although an elaborate peer review is to be carried out
How Do I Protect Myself From Predatory Publishers?
Check whether the journal or publisher is listed with the following initiatives:
- Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
- Open Access Scholarly Publishers’ Association (OASPA)
- Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
You can get more tips on the platform: Think. Check. Submit.
Another helpful checklist is provided by the ULiège Library with the Compass to Publish
Our Open Access team will also be happy to advise you: oa@ub.uzh.ch
