Open access articles

You can publish articles open access (OA) in different ways. The preferred route is one that makes an article immediately open access under an open license. Your options for publishing open access depend on your research budget, your funder requirements and the possibilities offered by the publisher.

Diamond

By choosing the diamond route, you publish open access immediately in a fully open access journal. Your article will have a CC BY license and you will usually retain the copyright to your article. This route is free for authors; the publishing costs are covered by external, not-for-profit financiers. Diamond open access is the most equitable way of open access publishing. Utrecht University also supports diamond open access.

Find diamond journals in:

• The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), with the filter 'Without fees'
• The European Diamond Discovery Hub (DDH)
• A curated list of Diamond OA journals in the Netherlands.

Gold

Through the gold route, you publish open access immediately in a fully open access journal. Unlike diamond, you will be charged article processing charges (APCs). You may be able to pay APCs from your research budget, or at times through discount agreements (open access deals). These deals are currently made between the UU or Universities of the Netherlands and publishers. Keep in mind that the gold route involves securing funding and handling invoices.

Find gold journals in:

• The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), gold journals mention APCs.
• The UU Journal Browser, to see whether these journals offer discount deals.

Hybrid

Hybrid open access journals publish both closed and open access articles. You pay publication costs (APCs) to make your article open access. Currently, APCs in most hybrid journals are covered by open access deals. As a result, UU and UMC Utrecht affiliated authors (including students) do not have to deal with the payment process themselves, making administration very easy for authors. However, keep in mind that whether or not a journal is part of a deal, it does not say anything about its relevance or importance.

Please note that if you receive a grant from NWO or ZonMW, this publication route is not an option. You are then obliged to publish in a gold or diamond open access journal.

Find hybrid journals in:

• The UU Journal Browser. Here, hybrid journals are marked as ‘open request’ journals. 

Green

The green open access route serves as an alternative in the case you publish closed access. Through this route, your article becomes open access in the UU institutional repository. This route is free for authors. Be aware that it is not the same as publishing open access immediately. As a result, it might not meet your funder requirements.

Green open access options:  

• The Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) becomes open access immediately through Right's Retention.
• A version of your article becomes open access immediately.
• Your closed published article becomes open access six months after publication.

Read more about green open access publishing on our page.