…what with space being the mind-boggling size it is the chances of getting picked up by another ship within those thirty seconds are two to the power of two hundred and seventy-six thousand, seven hundred and nine to one against.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
Traditional Problems
One of the paradoxes researchers often face when publishing scientific articles in prestigious journals is this: despite having conducted research, made a discovery, written an article about it, and even peer-reviewed their colleagues’ work for free, their own institution may still have to pay in order for the authors themselves to access their publication. One of the absurd contradictions in the strange universe of traditional scholarly publishing!
The business model of scientific journals, which locks research behind expensive subscription paywalls, is a relic of another age. It restricts global access, stifles innovation, and turns knowledge into a luxury good.
Researchers frequently encounter the following problems: lack of access to key articles due to insufficient institutional subscriptions; limited rights for re-use, even of their own articles; slow publication timelines; and high article processing charges (APCs). The problem is particularly acute for researchers affiliated with institutions or countries with limited resources for research.
The publishing industry has also enabled another phenomenon: the so-called predatory journals –“journals and publishers that prioritize self-interest at the expense of scholarship and are characterized by false or misleading information, deviation from best editorial and publication practices, lack of transparency, and/or the use of aggressive and indiscriminate solicitation practices” (Grudniewicz et al., 2019).
What Is “Open Access”?
Open access means providing free, online access to research for anyone, anywhere – without fees, subscriptions, logins, or hidden conditions.
The types of open access are related to publishing policies and their models of open access publishing. In most cases, open access is associated with the most expensive one – Gold Open Access, in which the final version of the article is immediately open on the publisher’s website and users can freely use the article, but authors pay a publication fee in these journals (APC). On the same principle are the hybrid journals, but the difference with them is that only part of the articles are open access.
With Diamond or Platinum Open Access there are no fees, either for users or for authors, and usually it is funded by public institutions or research consortia.
But there are also other types of open access, such as Green Open Access, in which there is no article processing charge and authors have the publisher’s permission to re-publish their article in a digital repository – institutional or thematic.
Less well known are Bronze, White, and Black Open Access. In Bronze Open Access, only archives are freely accessible; in White Open Access, authors publish their work in academic blogs and social networks; and in Black Open Access, articles are downloaded and re-published without authorization.
How Can Open Access Solve Traditional Problems?
First, open access resolves the paradox of authors being denied access to their own work by making articles available to everyone. Second, when authors cannot afford expensive journal APCs, they can publish through Green or Diamond/Platinum open access, which involve no publication fees. Third, re-use of scholarly articles is regulated, and Creative Commons licenses clearly specify the rights of sharing and re-use.
Funding bodies demand transparency, and open access policies in the EU, UK, and US provide frameworks to meet this requirement. For the problem of predatory publishing, however, the burden currently falls largely on researchers themselves – caught between the pressure to “publish or perish,” the rising demand for citations, limited awareness of predatory outlets, and the harm these practices cause.
Practical Steps for Using Open Access
Step 1: Deposit in digital repositories! (Green Open Access)
- Use institutional repositories (e.g., the Annals of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”).
- Use subject-specific repositories such as arXiv, bioRxiv, SSRN, or Zenodo.
- Share the accepted manuscript (post–peer review, pre-typesetting), not the publisher’s PDF!
- Check publisher policies in SHERPA/RoMEO!
Step 2: Choose open access journals!
- Use the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) to find reputable open access journals.
- Prefer Diamond/Platinum open access if funding is limited.
- Beware of predatory journals:
Investigate carefully by checking the journal’s website, editorial board, and indexing in reputable databases (e.g., SJR, MJL).
Consult reliable resources such as DOAJ, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and Think.Check.Submit.
Step 3: Follow the money!
- Check if your institution, library consortium, or funder covers APC fees.
- Some publishers waive fees for researchers from certain countries or for early-career scholars. For example, Bulgaria has an agreement with Elsevier.
Step 4: Use the right license!
- Use Creative Commons licenses—ideally CC BY—to maximize reuse.
- Clarify the license at submission to avoid restrictions after publication.
Step 5: Link all your publications!
- Include links to datasets, software, and preprints.
- Use your ORCID ID to connect publications across platforms.
Good Practices and EU Examples
Plan S (cOAlition S)
- Requires publicly funded research to be immediately and fully open access.
- Encourages publishing in open access journals or platforms and depositing in repositories.
- Supports rights-retention strategies: authors keep copyright, not publishers.
Open Research Europe (ORE)
- Free EU-funded publishing platform for Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe grantees.
- Immediate publication, open peer review, no APCs.
- Outputs become part of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).
OpenAIRE
- Connects publications, data, and software across Europe.
- Supports institutional and national repositories.
- Provides tools for compliance with funder open access policies.
Principles of EOSC and FAIR
- Emphasize findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability.
- Open access underpins meaningful connections between research outputs.
Conclusion
Open access breaks the monopoly on information and allows researchers worldwide to freely read scientific articles. It enables reuse and remixing – under appropriate licenses (e.g., CC BY). One of the key benefits for researchers is that open access leads to more citations and greater visibility, while connecting scientific outputs with data, code, and materials. That is why it is absolutely essential for scientific knowledge to be open and free.