Open Access

We are committed to supporting Open Access research.

Open Access publications are openly available research outputs, free to read and use, from a variety of different online sources.

Discover our Open Access publications

Explore our institutional repository, ORCA - home to thousands of Open Access journal articles, book chapters and conference papers produced by our staff and students, as well as our collection of PhD theses.

In addition to publications authored by our staff and students, there are many online resources that will direct you to more scholarly Open Access publications.

If you have already identified an article or book that you cannot easily access, there may be Open Access alternatives available online.

Look out for the Open Access ‘open lock’ symbol and use advanced search where possible to ensure you’re searching for full text, Open Access research only.

Open Access for our researchers

We support researchers by:

providing Open Access training and advocacy
providing advice on funder and REF Open Access requirements
liaising with researchers and publishers for the payment of Gold Open Access fees from central funds
encouraging deposit of research materials into the institutional repository, ORCA
checking and report Open Access compliance to funders (UKRI/Wellcome/COAF)
where Open Access funding is not available from any research funder, facilitating Open Access through the University’s Institutional Fund for authors meeting the fund criteria.
promoting the use of Cardiff University Press as a Diamond Open Access journal initiative and developing the Press Gold Open Access monograph publication programme launched in 2019
working collaboratively with other institutions and organisations to progress the Open Access agenda in the UK (such as alignment with Plan-S, and working with publishers to mediate costs whilst progressing towards increased Open Access publication).

We provide support for researchers on Green, Gold, and Diamond routes to Open Access, and the wider Open Access agenda in UK Higher Education. We're also involved in a variety of projects with both internal and external organisations.

For more information on the services and support we offer to researchers, please contact the team: