Open access (OA) is a publishing model through which scholarly publications are distributed online, free of access charges, or other barriers.

Read about open access at Aarhus University. 

Copyright and the two main types of open access

Gold OA

If you choose to publish Gold OA your publication will be instantly accessible for everyone on the publisher's website. In the vast majority of cases you will be required to pay a fee (Article Processing Charge (APC)) to the publisher. In turn, you and your co-authors, retain the copyright to your publication according to the publishing agreement.

Please be aware that the publisher often requires you to add a specific Creative Commons licence to your publication to specify which copyright rules apply.

Green OA

Once your publication has been published in a regular, subscription-based journal you are often allowed to self-archive it – a practice known as Green OA. This means that you may upload your publication (or an earlier version of it, usually the "accepted manuscript") to a subject-specific or institutional repository such as Pure. 

To republish your publication as Green OA you must ensure that you have:

• permission from the publisher, which may be stated in your copyright transfer agreement or be found in the Author Rights section on the publisher website. AU Library can help you determine whether the publisher’s general terms and conditions allow for self-archiving via PURE. Read about open access via Pure
• permission from your co-authors, if any. You share the copyright and must agree to make your joint publication available in a different version to that of the publisher’s, for example via Pure