Open Access
Open access is the internationally used term for open access to scientific publications.
Open Access (OA) is a publishing model that makes scholarly research freely available online to anyone, without paywalls or subscription fees. The idea is that anyone can read, download, copy, distribute, or reuse the work under a clear license like a Creative Commons (CC) license while still giving proper credit to the authors.
The main goal of OA is to increase the accessibility, visibility, and impact of research by removing financial and legal barriers.
What are the benefits?
Open Access (OA) makes research freely available online, allowing anyone to read, share, and reuse it.
This increases visibility and citations, speeds up dissemination, helps meet funder requirements and supports collaboration and innovation
How do the economics of open access work?
The economics of Open Access (OA) shift costs from readers to other stakeholders.
In traditional publishing, journals charge subscriptions or pay-per-view fees, and libraries cover most of the costs. In OA, the content is free to read, so publishers often rely on Article Processing Charges (APCs) paid by authors, their institutions, or funders to cover peer review, editing, and hosting.
The result is a redistribution of costs: instead of paying to access research, institutions and funders pay to make research accessible, with the goal of increasing reach, visibility, and impact.
Green & gold
Green and Gold Open Access are two main ways research can be made freely available.
Gold OA means the publisher makes the final version of the article immediately free to read on the journal’s website, often funded by an Article Processing Charge (APC) paid by the author, their institution, or a funder.
Green OA means the author deposits a version of the manuscript (preprint or postprint) in a repository, such as a university or subject repository, which is freely accessible. The journal may still require a subscription, and sometimes there is an embargo period before the repository version can be made public.
Article Publishing Charge (APC)
Publish Open Access for free in Bibsam agreements
The National Library of Sweden negotiates license agreements for electronic information resources on behalf of Swedish universities, university colleges, government agencies and research institutes. Some agreements include Open Access terms which give the participating organisations prepaid article publishing charges (APCs)
Self archiving
Parallellpublicering / Self archiving
Full text versions of your documents can, in most cases, be attached to the record you submit to the institutional repository. This is called self archiving or in Swedish “parallell publicering”.
The library will monitor full text documents attached by BTH authors for copyright information, and attach cover pages when this is required; informing authors when adjustments have to be made in order to self-archive in a legal way.
BTH:s OA policy
The Vice-Chancellor has decided (decisionnumber R075/25) that all scholarly publications by BTH employees must be registered in DiVA, with full text included whenever possible in accordance with copyright and confidentiality. Researchers are encouraged to retain the necessary rights by not transferring copyright to publishers, but instead using BTH’s publishing agreement or an author addendum to enable open access. When publishing, researchers should primarily choose high-quality journals that allow open access, and secondarily publishers that permit the accepted version to be made freely available in DiVA or other open repositories.
The policy was revised in June 2025 with descision number R075/25 pdf, 123.7 kB, opens in new window.
Black OA
Black OA refers to unauthorized access to scholarly articles through illegal or semi-legal channels, most commonly via sites like Sci-Hub. It provides free access to paywalled research but bypasses copyright, publisher systems, and licensing, raising legal and ethical concerns despite its widespread use.
Greyzone publishers
Grey-zone publishers appear legitimate but lack reliable peer review, clear licensing, or transparent processes. They may use OA labels loosely, rely on aggressive marketing, or charge hidden fees. This creates risks for research quality. When in doubt, check recognised indexes, review sample publications, and seek advice before publishing or purchasing.
- Think. Check. Submit External link, opens in new window.. is a campaign to help researchers identify trusted journals for their research. It is a simple checklist researchers can use to assess the credentials of a journal or publisher.
Concerning offers to publish print on demand
Vanity publishers charge authors to publish their work without providing genuine editorial support, peer review, or quality control. They accept most manuscripts, focus on selling services or print copies to the author, and often present themselves as traditional or academic publishers. Because the quality assurance is minimal, publishing with vanity presses can harm an author’s credibility,
OA resources
This link will take you to our database list with selected OA resources External link, opens in new window..