Open access publishing

Open access publishing makes research outputs such as journal articles, monographs and book chapters freely available to everyone - without paywall barriers - for anyone, anywhere, to read, use and build upon.

Publishing your work with an open access licence makes scholarly journal articles and books free from paywall barriers for anyone, anywhere, to read, use, and build upon. For researchers, open access (OA) increases readership, citations and opportunities for collaboration. For the wider community, OA ensures that policymakers, practitioners and the public can access research findings. Publishing open access is obligatory for research funded by the ARC or National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).

There are different OA publishing pathways available, including depositing your author accepted manuscript (AAM) in the Charles Sturt Research Output repository(CRO)  and publishing under a read and publish agreement.

Open access is one part of open scholarship (include link to copyright OS page, we can update to OS libguide later), alongside open data and open education.

Publish in a diamond open access journal.

Pros: Free to publish (no APC) and free to read. Diamond open access journals are led by the scholarly community rather than commercial interests.

Cons: Some diamond journals are newer and not established in journal rankings

Publish in a gold open access or hybrid journal.

Pros: No paywall for readers.

Cons: Authors or their institutions pay to publish.

Commercial model with high fees. Predatory publishers take advantage of the APC model.

Publish in a subscription journal and deposit your accepted manuscript in CRO.

Pros: Free to publish. There is no APC (Author Processing Charge). Readers access the AAM for free

Con: Readers pay to access the version of record on the publisher website.

Charles Sturt University participates in open access publishing agreements, covering thousands of journals with many major scholarly publishers.

These agreements allow Charles Sturt researchers to publish open access, free from Article Processing Charges (APCs).

View guide

Understand the relationship between OA and intellectualproperty. Learn how to:

  • manage the copyright of your research to retain rights for future use and open access
  • use licensing tools, such as Creative Commons licences, to support wider sharing and reuse
  • include a rights retention statement to retain copyright and control how your work is shared and reused.


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ICIP can impact the openness of research outputs, and you must be mindful about what can be shared publicly and what can be made open.

Protecting ICIP is an essential part of ethical research practice and supports trust, collaboration, and respectful knowledge sharing. Follow the principle ‘as open as possible, as closed as necessary.

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Open access and copyright

Managing your copyright well, including through open licences and rights retention, is key to making your work openly available, now and in the future.

Learn how to manage your copyright

Open access and Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP)

Research involving ICIP requires careful consideration of what can be shared publicly and what should remain protected. Respecting ICIP is an essential part of ethical research practice and supports trust, collaboration, and respectful knowledge sharing with First Nations peoples and communities. Follow the principle “as open as possible, as closed as necessary”.

Open scholarship

Discover how open scholarship makes research and education more accessible by removing barriers to sharing and reuse.

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