Routes to Open Access

We support a variety of Open Access models.

Open Access means research and published works have been unlocked through a variety of access models.

There are three main routes to Open Access; Green, Gold and Diamond:

Green Open Access

This is the most commonly used route to Open Access. Green Open Access is where the paper is not made Open Access by the publisher, but is deposited in a repository which makes it freely available. Often the version that is made openly accessible is not the published version but the final post-print (the accepted manuscript). The University Rights Retention policy allows this version to be made openly accessible immediately on publication.

ORCA (Online Research @Cardiff) is our institutional repository. It enables researchers to deposit the full text of their work or details about their work and make it openly available online. This helps to raise the visibility of our research and to maximise its impact.

More information and a guide on how to add publications to ORCA.

Gold Open Access

This route is dependent on paying a fee – an article processing charge (APC) or Open Access fee – to “unlock” your work and make the published version open to all. The published version is then made openly available via the publisher’s website and can be deposited in institutional or subject-based repositories.

Diamond Open Access

Taking this route means that publications are publicly available with no embargo period and at no cost to either author or reader.

All Cardiff University Press publications are currently Diamond Open Access.