Open access journals and books
Scientific journal articles, book chapters, and books can be published immediately as open access.
Open Access Publishing
Make your scientific publications - journal articles, monographs, proceedings and conference papers - freely accessible on the Internet. Your work is then accessible for everyone without restrictions and not just to those who have paid for subscriptions.
Aalto University aims to publish all publications according to open access principles and requires that all peer-reviewed scientific articles and conference papers will be parallel published in Aalto University repository, unless parallel publishing conflicts with the rights of publishers or other authors.
Aalto University aims to publish all publications according to open access principles and requires that all peer-reviewed scientific articles and conference papers will be parallel published in Aalto University repository, unless parallel publishing conflicts with the rights of publishers or other authors.
Benefits of open access
The greatest benefit of open access is that it enables rapid and wide dissemination of research results. It means more readers, more potential collaborators and more citations for your work. Open access publications get more visibility than publications that are not openly available online. The wider the audience that can access and build upon the latest research, the more likely the research benefits the whole society.
Open access publishing: terminology
Contact us: [email protected] (Open Science and ACRIS -team)
- Aalto University aims to publish all publication types according to open access principles and to do so by recommending publishing in open access channels or by parallel publishing (green open access).
- Hybrid open access is acceptable only as a part of a transformative agreement. When possible, researchers should adopt the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 -license for open access publications.
- Aalto University requires that all peer-reviewed scientific articles and conference papers be parallel published (self-archived, green open access) in the Aalto University repository if this does not conflict with the rights of publishers or other authors. Aalto University ensures the preservation of publications in the Aalto University repository.
- Aalto University researchers are requested to email a link to a repository or a copy of the final accepted manuscript to [email protected] once the publication is accepted and the co-authors’ consent to parallel publishing is confirmed. This is not needed if the publications are made openly accessible in open access or hybrid journals.
- Self-archiving and repositories
- Most doctoral and master’s theses are openly accessible in the Aalto University repository.
- As a member of the FinELib consortium, Aalto University aims to secure open access agreements or discounts on article processing charges (APC fees) with publishers.
- Authors have a responsibility to evaluate the integrity, practices and reputation of the journals to which they submit manuscripts
- Predatory or pseudo journals pose as scholarly open access journals. Researchers need to be aware of these and refrain from submitting to them. Acting as a reviewer or being a part of the journal board of such journals is considered ethical misconduct (misleading the scientific community). Authors are advised to check the Publication Forum for information about such journals.
- How to choose a scientific publication for your research
When making your research results open access, you can choose to publish:
- in a fully open access journal (gold open access)
- through our transformative agreements open access in a hybrid journal (hybrid open access), or
- by depositing a copy of your article in an open access repository (green open access, also called self-archiving or parallel publishing).
- Self-archiving is carried out as a service in Aalto University. Please read more at ACRIS, open access publishing and manuscript service.
Funder's requirements on open access publishing:
- Please always check Funders' open science requirements before submitting your manuscript to a journal. Funders may have requirements related to the immediate open access publishing and use of open licenses, and the requirements may vary between the funding terms.
- Plan S principles are applied to Academy of Finland and Horizon Europe funding calls opened in 2021 onwards. You can use the Journal Checker tool to search for Plan S compliant journals.
General instructions for your publishing process:
- Choosing a quality publication channel: How to choose a scientific publication for your research
- Making a publishing agreement with a journal: Publishing agreements
- If the journal asks you to add information about your research data: Data availability statements
- If the journal has an open access fee (APC fee), please check our agreements with publishers: Open Access Agreements with Publishers
- Our open access agreements are Plan S compliant transformative agreements and include possibility to publish open access in hybrid journals.
- Choosing a license for your open access material: Open content licenses - Creative Commons.
Overview of Aalto's open access publications 2022
In 2022, Aalto’s researchers published more publications open access than ever before. What are the changes we see in 2023?
Aalto University policies and services supporting open access
Aalto University aims to publish all publication types according to open access principles and to do so by recommending publishing in open access channels or by parallel publishing (green open access).
Aalto University Open Science and Research Policy
The goals of open science are responsible research and societal impact.
Open science means open access to scientific publications, research data, methods, software codes, and infrastructure. It is a key instrument for increasing the impact of the research conducted at Aalto University.
Services and resources supporting open access
Aalto University open publication archive consists of ACRIS Research Information System and Aaltodoc publications archive. Moreover, Aalto University offers other resources to support open access.
Funders' requirements on open access publishing
Research funders want to promote open science and research, which is why they set requirements for the openness of research publications and data they are funding. EU and Academy of Finland are participating in the open access initiative Plan S, which affects the open access requirements in calls starting in 2021.
Funders' open science requirements
Research funders want to promote open science and research, which is why they set requirements for the openness of research publications and data they are funding. European Commission (EC) and Academy of Finland are participating in the open access initiative Plan S, which affects the open access and open data requirements in calls starting in 2021.
Plan S
Plan S is an open access initiative launched by the EU Commission and Science Europe. At its core is the objective that, in calls starting from 1 January 2021, all scholarly articles resulting from public research funding must be published in open access journals or on open access platforms.
Open publication channels and self-archiving
Open access publishing refers to scientific journals and books where all the content is openly available. Through self-archiving, it is possible to publish manuscript versions of articles open access in repositories (green open access).
Self-archiving and repositories
Self-archiving refers to depositing a scientific publication or its manuscript version in either a subject specific repository or an institutional repository.
ACRIS, open access publishing and manuscript service
Instructions on open access publishing in ACRIS
Open access fees
Open access fees refer to article processing charges (APC fees) set by publishers. Aalto University provides open access agreements with several publishers. With the help of these agreements, our researchers can publish their articles open access without article processing charges or get discounts on them.
Open access fees
Open access fees refer to article processing charges (APC fees) set by publishers.
Open access agreements with publishers
Take advantage of the open access agreements we have with publishers! Under the agreements, Aalto affiliated corresponding authors can publish their articles without open access fees (APC fee) or get discounts on them.
Practical information on publishing
When selecting a publication channel, you should pay attention to the openness and reliability of the publication channel. Researcher identifiers aim to lessen the problems caused by ambiguity in researcher names.
Checklist: before submitting your manuscript
How to choose a reliable and open publication channel? How do I indicate my affiliation and acknowledge my research project in the publication?
How to choose a scientific publication for your research
Publishing in a high-quality publication channel will increase the impact of research.
Researcher Identification and Research Profiles
Researcher identifiers aim to lessen the problems caused by ambiguity in researcher names. For example, common surnames, the changing of names and characters which don’t appear in English are making the evaluation and following of scholarly work more difficult. Identifiers make it much easier to process and administer publication information.
Licenses and copyrights
Creative Commons licenses let creators and copyright owners give permission in advance for certain uses of their material. In publishing agreements, authors agree on copyright issues, such as the principles of authorship and terms for open access publishing and self-archiving (green open access).
Open content licenses - Creative Commons
CC licenses let creators and copyright owners give permission in advance for certain uses of their material. The various license terms define the ways in which users can legally share, modify, or build upon a copyrighted work without the need to ask the owner/ creator for permission.
Publishing agreements
In publishing agreements, authors agree on copyright issues, such as the principles of authorship and terms for open access publishing and self-archiving (green open access). Researchers should make sure that terms either offer immediate gold open access or allow for green open access agreed upon with the funding bodies.
Contact information
For any questions, please don't hesitate to contact Open Science and ACRIS team ([email protected]) or your school liaison:
News on open access publishing
New SAGE open access publishing agreement signed
Aalto affiliated corresponding authors can publish their articles without the open access fee (APC) or with 20% discount.
New Wiley open access publishing agreement signed
Aalto affiliated corresponding authors can publish their articles without the open access fee (APC).
New Taylor & Francis open access publishing agreement signed
Aalto affiliated corresponding authors can publish their articles without the open access fee (APC).
Overview of Aalto's open access publications 2022
In 2022, Aalto’s researchers published more publications open access than ever before. What are the changes we see in 2023?
Open science and research