Choosing the right journal for your research

To learn more about Open Access publishing visit the Library's Open Access publishing guide.

Researchers can make their work open access by one of two ways: by depositing an open access copy of their published work in a repository or by publishing in a journal that makes the work open access.

Gold Open Access	Publishing in a journal which provides the work on Open Access, usually for a fee (called an Article Publishing Charge, or APC), is described as Gold Access
Green Open Access	Publishing in a repository is described as Green Open Access

Some journal titles have some articles on a paid-subscription basis, while others may be freely available - this is called hybrid Open Access publishing.

Some publishers may impose an embargo period on an article restricting access to subscribers for a set time before it is made available as Open Access. Visit Sherpa Romeo to find information on a specific journal's embargo period.

As the author or creator of a work, you automatically own copyright to it. When you submit the work for publication, however, you may be asked to assign copyright to the publisher. The Australian Copyright Council's Information Sheet G24 provides an overview of rights transfer issues. It is worthwhile to read a contract carefully before signing, as you may be able to negotiate to retain some or all of your rights as the original copyright owner.

The University strongly encourages all publications conducted by Federation researchers to be deposited to our institutional open access repository Federation ResearchOnline. To check what rules your publisher may have regarding self-archiving visit Sherpa Romeo.

In 2022, CAUL (Council of Australian University Librarians) negotiated ‘Read & Publish’ agreements with several publishers, “providing authors the opportunity to publish open access immediately on acceptance, and free of any transactional Article Processing Charges (APCs)”. These agreements have continued into 2023, with the addition of more major publishers.

The publishers listed in the table below have CAUL-negotiated ‘Read & Publish’ agreements that cover Federation University during 2023. Some publishers have CAUL-wide article publishing caps, as indicated in the table, which mean that when the cap is reached, submitting authors can choose to publish the article as “closed access” or pay an APC for the article to be published Open Access. Click on the publisher name for further details.

Publishers accessible to Federation University authors

Publisher name	Number of titles	Article cap	Notes
Cambridge University Press	398 journal titles	No article cap	Page and colour charges are not included in the R&P agreement, and only apply to print journals.
CSIRO Publishing	All 15 CSIRO-owned journals plus 4 society journals	No article cap	Page charges are included in the R&P agreement, with the exception of  colour pages or reprints.
Elsevier (new in 2023)	1649 journal titles	7,138 articles cap	Titles not include in the agreement for open access publishing may still benefit from a 15% discount on open access article processing charges (APCs). A small number of journals have 'submission charges' or 'mandatory page charges' that are not covered by the agreement. Optional colour printing charges are not included under the terms of the agreement.
Oxford University Press	361 journal titles	932 articles cap	A small number of included journals have mandatory page charges that are not covered by the agreement. Optional colour printing charges are not included under the terms of the agreement.
Sage (new in 2023)	924 journal titles	No article cap
Springer Nature	1,976 journal titles	3,359 articles cap	Other charges (including page and colour charges) will vary by imprint and may not be covered under the agreement. Page charges for Springer Nature owned journals will be waived.
Taylor & Francis (new in 2023)	349 journal titles	3,114 articles cap	Other charges, such as colour and page charges, are not included within the agreement and are charged separately by the individual title.
Wiley/ Hindawi	Approximately 1,900 journal titles	6,750 articles cap	Page and colour charges are not included under the terms of this agreement.

Information for authors

• Authors must use their institutional email address when submitting an article for publication i.e., x.name@federation.edu.au
• Authors can track the current approval numbers for individual publishers that have an article cap by using the Reports page on the CAUL Read & Publish Guide.
• Authors should view the article types that are covered by each publisher in the 2023 Read & Publish agreement prior to submitting.
• Published articles will be required to choose a Creative Commons licence.
• Although APCs (article processing charges) are covered as part of the current Read & Publish agreement, there may be ‘colour and page charges’.

Check each linked publisher in the above table to view the CAUL Read & Publish guide. Each guide has

• Links to the list of journal titles included
• Article types covered by the agreement
• How to submit your article

If you are having difficulty in choosing a journal, please view the Subject Guide ‘Research: Where to Publish’ for advice on

• Journal content matching – programs or sites to match journals to your manuscript
• Measuring journal quality – how to determine and understand the impact factor of a selected journal

 

For any further queries, contact your campus Liaison Librarian from the Research and Learning Services Team, or make an online appointment.

Some research centres at Federation University have limited funding available to contribute towards APC's if certain criteria is met. To see if funding through your research centre is available contact your research centre coordinator.