Journals offering open access options have adopted different business models, which are categorized as green, gold, platinum, bronze, diamond, and hybrid models. They are summarized in the chart below. These business models vary based on the Article Processing Charge (APC), who pays for the APC, the timeline for openness, and the licenses available. Hybrid models are used by publishers who offer green, gold, platinum, and diamond open access options side-by-side with traditional pay-to-read articles.
(ACS)
In response to the research community’s expressed desire for OA, the latest JISC/Romeo survey of more than 10,000 journals indicates that over 90% are already “green”; that is, they have given their official green light to author self-archiving (http://romeo.eprints.org/stats.php).
SHERPA / ROMEO is a database of permissions that are normally given as part of each publisher's copyright transfer agreement. Your can search by journal title or by publisher to determine what a publisher will allow under their standard agreement. A faculty adopted open access policy should specify what level of archiving is acceptable.
| ROMEO colour | Archiving policy |
| green | can archive pre-print and post-print or publisher's version/PDF |
| blue | can archive post-print (ie final draft post-refereeing) or publisher's version/PDF |
| yellow | can archive pre-print (ie pre-refereeing) |
| white | archiving not formally supported |
