What is Open Access?

Open Access means providing unrestricted access to research outputs. If an article is Open Access, it can be read by anyone in the world with an internet connection.

The potential readership of an Open Access article is far, far greater than one where the full text is restricted to subscribers. By increasing the number of readers, article citations grow significantly and opportunities for collaboration increase.

You can check your funder requirements via , a searchable database of up-to-date information concerning funders' policies and their requirements on open access, publication and data archiving.

The Library Open Access team are happy to help with any questions. It’s best to contact the team as early as possible in the publication process, especially if your paper is acknowledging UK Research and Innovation, Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK or British Heart Foundation funding.

Read the 5X社区视频 Open Access Publication policy [PDF 151KB] 

Routes to Open Access

Green Open Access

The green open access publication route means that the full text of your research output is made available via the SRO repository. The publication record is created within Elements and then the record is ‘deposited’ to the SRO repository. We advise depositing the AAM (the version after peer-review but before any layout or copyediting work is completed by the publisher) with your record as this fulfils funder, REF, and 5X社区视频 policy requirements.

Gold Open Access

Gold open access is when the final version of a research output is made freely available on a publisher’s website immediately upon publication, usually under a Creative Commons licence that permits reuse. Publishers usually cover costs by charging a fee to the author or their institution, known as the Article Processing Charge (APC - see FAQs)

The library has several agreements with publishers to enable Sussex and BSMS researchers to share their research outputs openly. All our deals, and how to take advantage of them, are listed on our Institutional Open Access deals & discounts page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Contact

Contact the Library Open Access team at openaccess@sussex.ac.uk

Get support with Sussex Research Online at sro@sussex.ac.uk