How to Make Your Work Open Access

Gold OA

Gold OA often refers to the cases when the published version of your work are openly accessible at the publishers' sites.

Some journals are fully OA; all articles in the journals are openly accessible. Some journals are called "hybrid" journals because they have a mix of OA articles and paywalled articles. As authors, if your work is accepted by a hybrid journal, you can choose to publish OA or not. The OA option often requires a payment called Article Processing Charges (APCs). APCs can have a wide range, from a few hundred USD to close to 10,000 USD.

Note that some OA journals do not charge APC. You can find OA journals in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), which also lists the APCs if any.

Apart from charging APC, some publishers make agreements with libraries to support affiliated authors to publish OA. Check list of OA Publishing Agreements made by HKUST Library. These agreements allow HKUST authors to publish in selected journals with APC waived or discounted.

To take advantage of this privilege, make sure you submit papers using your HKUST email account and list HKUST as your affiliation.

Limited APC quota

Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) | Springer Nature | Wiley

Unlimited APC quota

American Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) | American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) | Cambridge University Press (CUP) | Company of Biologists | IOP Publishing | Microbiology Society | Rockefeller University Press | Royal Society | SCOAP³