Open Access refers to the principle and practice of making digital versions of scholarly publications freely accessible. This has multiple benefits over paywalled material, such as greater reach and potential impact, public access to publicly-funded research, equitable access e.g. for developing countries and increased likelihood of research Influencing policy and practice beyond academic institutions. 

Green OA with Doras

• Green OA refers to self-archiving a copy of your published work in a repository. 
• Doras is DCU's Institutional Repository. It accepts peer-reviewed articles and other output types.
• Doras is crawled by search engines such as Google Scholar, increasing discoverability. 
• In many cases the version uploaded must be the Author Accepted Manuscript or AAM. 
• Remember to keep your copy of your AAM when accepted for publication.

How do I upload to Doras?

• Directly, at doras.dcu.ie (see demo below)
• Email to doras@dcu.ie
• Via Research Engine (for staff)

Gold OA via Publisher Agreements

• Gold OA refers to publishers making content open without a subscription or embargo period
• Typically this is funded via an Article Processing Charge or APC, a one-off payment for publishing services
• DCU members may avail of Publisher Agreements negotiated by DCU Library/IReL to fund APCs
• These agreements cover over 11,000 journals. See the full list at http://bit.ly/irelOAjournals or by publisher in the table below

Please note:

• The corresponding author must be a DCU member, usually at the point when the article is accepted for publication
• An agreement with a publisher may not include all of their journals
• APC allocations are not unlimited and may expire within a calendar year

Click on a publisher name to see full terms of each agreement.
 

* Denotes agreement still awaiting 2025 renewal confirmation. We expect publishers to retrospectively offer OA to eligible articles once agreements are signed.

For further guidance on APCs contact Liam O'Dwyer, Open Research Librarian at: liam.odwyer@dcu.ie.

Policies and Strategies

Open Access Publishing in DCU

DCU is actively involved in a number of open publishing initiatives, including DCU Press, which launched its first book in January 2024.