BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS – A FACILITATOR OF OPEN SCIENCE
Open Access (OA) is a feature of journal articles and books, that allows unrestricted and free-to-download online accessibility, to any viewer or reader who is interested.
Bentham Science Publishers provides two options to authors who wish to make their content (i.e. manuscripts of journals or books) openly accessible, subject to successful publication of their content. Gold Open Access (Open Access Plus) is the first option, which involves publication of relevant manuscripts or books on the Bentham Science (publisher’s) platform under the license number CC BY 4.0. While Green Open Access is the second option, allowing only archival copy of the article to be placed in a secure OA repository of the researcher’s institution, after an embargo period.
Gold Open Access (Open Access Plus) allows immediate accessibility of content when it is published. On the other hand, a self-archiving embargo period should elapse (in most scenarios) in the case of articles deposited via the Green Open Access option. Publishers' self-archiving policies can be found on the SHERPA/RoMEO database.
OPEN ACCESS OPTIONS:
| Comparative Features: | Gold Open Access (Open Access Plus) | Green Open Access |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | Content easily and immediately available after successful publication | Content is made available usually after elapse of an embargo period |
| Version | Final published version, after copyediting and composing | Version of the accepted manuscript after completion of peer-review stage, but before copyediting and composing |
| Location and discoverability | Content immediately and securely available on Bentham Science Publisher’s website / platform, alongside other related content, ensuring high discoverability | Low discoverability, since article is available on a platform other than Bentham Science Publisher’s website, for example, a repository or author’s homepage |
| Reliability of scientific record | Manuscript is kept up-to-date, since any post-publication corrections are incorporated, ensuring accurate and updated scientific record of content | Manuscript is incomplete and may have multiple versions, it is not citable or fully linked with other papers, and it involves the risk of non-inclusivity of any corrections that are usually incorporated after acceptance |
| Licensing | Open license of the content (for example CC BY 4.0) enables users to utilize, adapt, and share onward | Rights and/or re-use of content are restricted. Archiving, under any of the above mentioned Open Access mandates, is done under the terms of the Creative Commons License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 - Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
| Pathway toward open science | Manuscript can be linked to various open data sets and protocols, can be included in different open metrics, and is compliant of open standards | Due to multiplicity of versions of the manuscript, it is not fully embedded into the open research ecosystem if this OA route is opted |
| Practicality of full OA transition | Article Processing Charges (APCs) / copyrights support in funding the publishing infrastructure, hence complete OA transition is possible via this route | Dependent on subscriptions to fund publishing infrastructure; complete OA transition is not possible via this route |
OPEN ACCESS PLUS (GOLD OPEN ACCESS)
After receiving acceptance of the submitted manuscript, the corresponding author is offered the option of Open Access Plus (Gold Open Access), which entails payment of a fee to make the published article freely available online via the journal's website. Publication as open access allows the widest possible dissemination of the paper to scientists all over the world even if they do not subscribe the journal. If authors, however, do not choose to pay the open access publication charge, then their article will be published with the standard subscription-based access at no cost. Gold Open Access articles are clearly indicated on the journal's online contents page.
BENEFITS
When you choose the Open Access Plus (Gold Open Access) option, the benefits to authors and readers are:
- FREE to View: Open Access Articles are FREE to view, download and print in compliance with open access mandates.
- Citations: The article has the potential to receive much greater citations because of its content being available to readers who do not subscribe to the journal.
- Self-archiving: There is no embargo on the archiving of articles published under the Gold Open Access category. Authors are allowed deposition of such articles on institutional, non-commercial repositories and personal websites immediately after its publication in the journal website.
- Compliance with Funding Agency and Institutes: A list of funding agencies, where the authors can apply for funds to publish their papers as open access, can be found on the websites of relevant journals.
- Creative Commons License: Open Access Articles are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode, which permits unrestricted, distribution and reproduction in any medium, ensuring that the work is properly cited.
- Authors Retain Copyright: The use of a Creative Commons License enables authors to retain copyright to their work.
Bentham Science Publishers values the impact associated with open access publications. Through the aforementioned OA options, we facilitate researchers, institutions and their funders for wider discoverability and accessibility of their research content. As can be clearly interpreted, the Gold OA option for publication is preferred in terms of offering simplicity, ease and sustainability to all the involved stakeholders.
HOW TO ORDER:
After your article has been accepted for publication, you will receive an email from the editorial office. You can then opt for your article to be published as open access. Alternatively, you may write to your journal Manager for such a request.
For more information please contact us at e-mail: openaccess@benthamscience.net