GUILLERMO AND MICHÈLE DE LA DEHESA LIBRARY CATALOG
WHAT IS OPEN ACCESS?
“An inclusive construct that combines diverse movements and practices in order to make scientific knowledge openly available and accessible to all, as well as reusable by all, increasing scientific collaborations and the exchange of information for the benefit of science and society , and the processes of creation, evaluation and communication of scientific knowledge are opened to social agents beyond the traditional scientific community.” (UNESCO, 2021)
Open access (OA) provides unrestricted online access to scholarly information, enabling anyone to read, use, and share research without financial, legal, or technical barriers. Any kind of digital content can be OA, from texts and data to software, audio, video, and multi-media. While most of these are related to text only, a growing number are integrating text with images, data, and executable code. OA can also apply to non-scholarly content, like music, movies, and novels.
A publication is considered in Open access if it complies with one or more of the following conditions:
- Its content is universally and freely accessible, at no cost to the reader, via the Internet or otherwise;
- The author or copyright owner irrevocably grants to all users, for an unlimited period, the right to use, copy, or distribute the article, on condition that proper attribution is given;
- It is deposited, immediately, in full and in a suitable electronic form, in at least one widely and internationally recognized open access repository committed to open access.
OPEN ACCESS STATEMENTS
Following Open Science requirements, the main European and Spanish research funding bodies stipulate that publications resulting from funded research must be deposited in open access, along with the data necessary to validate them.
Main statements:
- Budapest Open Access Initiative (2002). Advocates for free access to scientific literature via the Internet, respecting copyright laws.
- Bethesda Declaration (2003). It mentions the archiving of works in open access repositories.
- Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003). It ratifies the two previous statements, openly supports the OA movement and commits institutions to favor and promote this path.
- Alhambra Statement, May 2010. Statement supported by Southern European countries, it ratifies the importance of promoting and supporting open access initiatives.
- European Commission
Horizon Europe is the research and innovation (R&I) framework program of the European Union (EU) for the period 2021 -2027. It involves open science and citizen science. It is committed to guaranteeing open access to research data following the principle “as open as possible and as closed as necessary.” You can access the Participant Guide. prepared by the Center for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI), included in the Spanish Portal of the European Research Framework Programme.
- Spain
Emphasizes the value of science as a common good and advocates for open access to publicly funded research outputs. Article 37, “Open Science,” promotes the development of open infrastructures and platforms, requires the open access through archive of publications, data, codes, and methods in repositories, and encourages the open participation of civil society in scientific processes.
Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica, Técnica y de Innovación 2021-2023 (PEICTI), following the objectives stated by the Estrategia Española de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación 2021-2027(EECTI).
The Spanish Science, Technology, and Innovation Strategy (EECTI) 2021-2027 makes a commitment to open science in its objective 4 “Knowledge generation and scientific leadership,” as well as in action axis 14 “Science and innovation in society”. Similarly, the State Scientific, Technical, and Innovation Research Plan (PEICTI) 2021-2023 includes different initiatives within the State Subprogram for Institutional Strengthening aimed at implementing open and inclusive science models.
Ley Orgánica 2/2023, de 22 de marzo, del Sistema Universitario. Artículo 12.
Strengthens the mandate of open access of all research outputs in the university open institutional repository.
Estrategia Nacional de Ciencia Abierta 2023-2027 (ENCA)
Building upon the previous Spanish statements, ENCA aims to ensure that by 2027 the funding, execution, communication, and assessment processes of scientific research in Spain incorporate the principles of open science.
It focuses on the following pillars:
- Digital infrastructures for open science.
- Management of research data following FAIR principles.
- Open access to scientific publications.
- Incentives, recognition, and training.
Plan S main objective is that scientific publications resulting from research funded with public (or private) money are published in open access journals or platforms that meet the established requirements.
Plan S aims for full and immediate Open Access to peer-reviewed scholarly publications from research funded by public and private grants. cOAlition S, the coalition of research funders that have committed to implementing Plan S, aims to accelerate the transition to a scholarly publishing system that is characterised by immediate, free online access to, and largely unrestricted use and re-use (full Open Access) of scholarly publications.
From 2021 onwards, Plan S requires that research funded by participating organizations be made immediately available in open access through journals, platforms, or repositories without embargo periods. In addition:
- Authors retain copyright and publications should use open licenses, preferably CC BY.
- Funders will establish quality standards for open access journals, platforms, and repositories.
- Support will be provided for new open access infrastructures and journals where high-quality options do not yet exist.
- Open access publication fees should be covered by funders or institutions, not by individual researchers.
- Publication fees must be transparent and fair, reflecting the services provided and supporting sustainable publishing models.
- Institutions and organizations are encouraged to align their policies and practices to support open access and transparency.
- The principles apply to all scholarly outputs, although books and monographs may require a longer transition period.
- Hybrid journals are generally not supported, except under transformative agreements aimed at full open access.
- Funders will monitor compliance and may sanction researchers or institutions that do not follow the requirements.
- Research assessment should focus on the quality of the work itself, rather than journal impact factors, metrics, or publishers
Open ≠ free
While open access provides readers free access to scientific research, it does not mean that there are no fees involved in the publishing process. Instead, alternative business models assume the publishing and access payments, allowing readers to enjoy scientific research free of charge. Therefore, the costs of supporting open access publishing are not paid by those needing access to research.
One of those cost recovery models is the implementation of article processing charges (APCs). An APC is the fee that some publishers charge to make an article openly accessible. This cost can be covered by the author, their institution, or a research funder. Through Transformative Agreements, these APCs are included in the institutional contract, so authors do not need to pay them individually.
IE University recommends our affiliated researchers to self-archive their scientific articles after they have been published in our institutional Repository. Also, Doctoral dissertations should be published openly with a selected Creative Commons License.
If your research has been funded, it’s mandatory to mention the Grant and to add a Funder Acknowledgment text in your article.
WHY IS OPEN ACCESS IMPORTANT?
For researchers:
- Makes scientific work easily accessible.
- Higher visibility = Higher number of citations
- Supports reproducibility – other researchers can apply your findings
- Compliance with grant rules.
For citizens:
- Science becomes more accessible to regular citizens
- Endorses information literacy
- Promotes citizen science initiatives
- Taxpayers get value for money & access to work they have financed
HOW CAN I MAKE MY WORK OPEN ACCESS?
OA ROUTES
There are different ways to publish Open Access. Different routes correspond with the different requirements of the funders/institutions and the guidelines of the journal publisher, as well as the author´s preference.
Some forms of open access involve paying an Article Processing Charge (APC). Others do not require payment but may impose conditions such as limits on which version can be shared, embargo periods, or restrictions on where the work can be deposited. These different routes to open access are often categorized using a color system, explained in the image below:
The Diamond Open Access model ensures that the final published version of an article is freely and permanently available to everyone immediately after publication. Under this model, most access and reuse restrictions are removed, while authors typically retain copyright of their work.
In Diamond Open Access, publishing and dissemination costs are covered through alternative sources such as institutional support, grants, or subsidies. Unlike other open access models that rely on Article Processing Charges (APCs), Diamond OA eliminates financial barriers for both authors and readers, allowing researchers to publish and access scholarly work at no cost.
The Gold Open Access model makes the final published version of an article freely and permanently available to all readers immediately upon publication. Under this model, most access and reuse restrictions are removed, while authors generally retain copyright of their work. Articles published through Gold Open Access may appear in either:
- Fully OA journals, without Article Processing Charge [Diamond OA];
- Fully OA journals, with Article Processing Charge;
- Hybrid journals
Hybrid OA is a subscription journal with open access to individual articles usually with an “Article Processing Charge”. Characteristics include:
- Not limited to publishing in full open access journals
- Work available in subscription journal
- Possibly high Article Processing Charge (APC)
- “Double dipping fee” charged to both subscribers (e.g. university subscription) and authors
Also referred to as self-archiving, Green Open Access involves depositing a version of a manuscript in a repository so it can be made freely available to readers. In most cases, the publisher retains copyright, meaning that specific conditions apply regarding which version can be shared, where it may be deposited, and when it can be made openly accessible.
If you want to know more about which version of your paper you can publish and how to do it in our repository you can check our IE Repository webpage here.
Bronze Open Access refers to articles that are free to read on the publisher’s website but do not carry an open license, such as a Creative Commons license. As a result, although the content is freely accessible, it cannot usually be reused, redistributed, or deposited in repositories without the publisher’s permission.
In many cases, articles are made freely available only temporarily or after an embargo period. A well-known example is the large number of COVID-19 research articles that publishers made freely accessible to support the rapid sharing of scientific knowledge.
ARTICLE PROCESSING CHARGE (APC) & TRANSFORMATIVE AGREEMENTS
Transformative Agreements (TAs), also known as Read & Publish agreements, are contracts between institutions (such as universities or library consortia) and publishers that combine the cost of reading subscription-based journals with the ability to publish a certain number of articles in Open Access.
These Transformative Agreements represent a new model in which institutions not only gain access to the publisher’s journals but also cover the cost of publishing research outputs openly, helping to make scientific knowledge freely available to everyone.
Article Processing Charge (APC)
An APC is the fee that some publishers charge to make an article openly accessible. This cost can be covered by the author, their institution, or a research funder. Through Transformative Agreements, these APCs are included in the institutional contract, so authors do not need to pay them individually.
In 2021, CRUE-CSIC has arranged their first agreement with the aim of advancing the socialization of knowledge through increasing free access to it. This changes the traditional model academic subscription into a sustainable and open system.
At the IEU Library, our researchers can publish a limited number of articles in selected journals covered by these agreements without assuming the cost of the APC. We manage these requests in collaboration with the Research Department.
If you need support or wish to check whether your journal is included in one of our Transformative Agreements, please contact us at openaccess@ie.edu.
IEU LIBRARY'S TRANSFORMATIVE AGREEMENTS
The IEU Library collaborates with the Research Department to manage and approve the APCs request from our researchers. To provide this service, the IEU Library has yearly limited credits available for each Agreement, with an APC used for each publication.
A selection of journals covered by these Transformative Agreements also appears in the High Interest Journal List, curated by IE University. The Library has created a document to highlight top and premium journals included in the agreements, organized by publisher, helping researchers identify high-impact publication opportunities supported by our Open Access arrangements. You can explore the full list here.
Wiley
Elsevier
Springer
Sage
Cambridge
Wiley
Wiley and CRUE-CSIC have an agreement that allows eligible authors to publish open access without paying an article publication charge (APC). The cost of publishing is covered under the terms of the agreement. Corresponding authors affiliated with participating CRUE-CSIC institutions may publish gold open access in any fully open access* or hybrid journal, at no charge**. By choosing gold open access an article is immediately and freely available for all to read, download and share.
- Wiley Author Services
- Open Access Agreement for Spanish Authors
- Creative Commons Licenses Guide
- Glossary for Authors
- Journal Finder
Wiley’s eligibility requirements:
- You must be the responsible corresponding author affiliated to IE University (if you are no longer affiliated with an eligible institution at the point of acceptance of your paper, you do not qualify).
- You must publish in a fully gold open access journal or publish open access in a hybrid journal.
- If submitting to a fully gold open access journal your manuscript must have been submitted on or after 1 January 2026.
- If submitting to a hybrid journal your manuscript must have been accepted for publication on or after 1 January 2026.
- Your article must be primary research or a review article. Other article types e.g. letters, editorials etc. are excluded.
- This agreement cannot be used to cover additional charges (e.g. cover, color, and page charges), which individual journals administer separately.
Elsevier
Elsevier and the Crue Spanish Universities-CSIC Alliance have established an agreement to support authors in Spain who wish to publish open access. The cost of publishing open access is covered under the terms of this agreement. Eligible corresponding authors do not have to pay an article publishing charge (APC).
From now on, Elsevier will offer Unlimited number of APCs on hybrid journals.
Springer
To support authors in publishing open access (OA), Springer Nature partners with institutions globally to provide flexible agreements that help cover OA publication costs (known as article processing charges, or APCs).
Sage
Sage has an agreement with the IE Universidad to publish articles open access. The agreement for participating organizations will run from January 01, 2025 through to December 31, 2025. The details of the agreement are as follows:
To qualify for the agreement, the corresponding author must be affiliated with IE Universidad and have an article accepted for publication between January 01, 2026 and December 31, 2026.
Gold open access journals: Corresponding authors publishing an article in a Gold open access journal are entitled to a 15% discount on the prevailing article processing charge (APC) for that journal. For participating journals view the gold journal title list. This discount will be applied automatically in Sage Journals: Licensing & Payment. Where an author is eligible for more than one discount, discounts cannot be combined but the highest discount available to the author will be applied to the APC due.
The corresponding author must be affiliated with IE Universidad for their article to qualify for the article processing charge (APC) discount.
Authors do not need to take any action to benefit from this offer. Sage will contact all eligible authors to inform them of the agreement and invite them to Sage Journals: Licensing & Payment to take up the offer as soon as their accepted article has been received into Sage’s Production department.
Cambridge
If you are affiliated with IE University you can publish your article Open Access (OA) – at no cost to you – in gold and hybrid journals. In addition, you can enjoy access to Cambridge University Press journals content.
Easily check your eligibility to publish OA under this agreement, and the journals available to you, by using our eligibility checker tool.
To be eligible, articles must:
- Have a corresponding author affiliated with IE University.
- Be original research – eligible article types are research articles, review articles and rapid communications, brief reports and case reports.
- Be accepted for publication in a Cambridge University Press journal covered by the agreement.
- Be accepted for publication from 1 January 2026.
Upon submission of your request, the IEU Library will receive a notification, starting the evaluation process. During this process, the Research Office will assess your request to determine whether to approve or deny the Article Processing Charge (APC). This decision will be based if the article meets the required criteria, as well as the availability of APCs at the moment of the request. After a final decision has been reached and the request is approved or rejected, the journal will notify the result to the researcher. If the case of a rejected submission, the researcher will need to cover the APC. Usually, that APC will be funded by their research group.
You must deposit a copy of the publication in the IE Repository.