Q. What are my options if I cannot find a suitable journal under a WSU Read & Publish Agreement?

You have the following options:

• If you have available publishing funds: 

Aim to publish ‘Gold’ open access. This route requires the payment of an Article Processing Charge (APC) by either the author/grant funder or institution and your work is immediately open access.

• If you do not have available publishing funds: 

Check the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). You may be able to submit your research to fee-free journals available via the DOAJ and to journals where you retain your author rights while publishing open access.

Publish ‘Green’ open access. If you cannot find a suitable journal in the DOAJ, consider subscription (traditional) publishing which allows you to freely deposit your research in an open online institutional/subject repository. However, an embargo of 12-24 months may apply to sharing your work, and where your rights are generally transferred to the publisher. Refer to your publisher agreement for the terms and conditions. If you wish to negotiate your rights, use the SPARC Author Addendum to initiate discussion with the publisher.

Also check the journal publisher agreement and information for authors to determine whether the journal permits author rights retention and whether it allows you to immediately publish open access and share your work.

Contact your School Librarian for support with finding suitable publishing outlets to submit your research.