Publishing Open Access considerably increases the audience for your research.
Outputs that are published Open Access usually accrue more citations than items behind a publisher’s paywall.
Choose the most open version of the Creative Commons licences, CC BY.
Take advantage of the thousands of journals in the University’s Open Access deals with major publishers. Check journals included in current deals using SciFree.
UKRI-funded authors can apply for funding for Pure Gold Open Access journals outside deals. Apply in advance of submission to oarequests@reading.ac.uk
Green Open Access via CentAUR is still a useful route to make your work available and is a requirement for REF eligibility
Check manuscript handling times for your chosen journal. Is peer review very slow or very fast? – both may be red flags
Choose journals with faster publication times after acceptance. Contact the journal’s Editorial Office for information.
Choose a journal that publishes online ahead of print, rather than waiting for the publication of the print edition.
Choose a reputable publisher. Do your homework before submitting – visit thinkchecksubmit.org or discuss with the University’s Research Publications Adviser.
Find a journal with the right audience and subject scope – do you read it and cite it? Do your peers and experts in your field publish in it?
Check journal metrics with Scopus, SciVal, Scimago and InCites Journal Citation Reports. Double-check any metrics claims on journal websites.
Make sure the journal/platform will issue a DOI for your publication.
If possible, publish in a journal that is indexed by Scopus.
Investigate making books or book chapters Open Access. Your funder may require it. Contact oarequests@reading.ac.uk to find out more.
Look out for calls for applications to the University’s Open Access book fund and the Trailblazers scheme for ECRs.
Choose a publisher with an online presence for books, book chapters and conference proceedings.
Ask the publisher for a DOI for all online non-journal outputs.
Act on acceptance. Upload your manuscript to CentAUR as soon as your output is accepted – this is mandatory for all staff and all peer-reviewed research outputs.
Archive all data, code and software in an appropriate data repository.