Option

Access

Timing

Peer-reviewed

Responsibility for perpetual access

Business model

Traditional print journals

Restricted

Delayed — until issue is published

Yes

Libraries

Subscription (i.e. pay to read)

Most commercial and non-profit publishers

Traditional online journals

Restricted

Delayed (usually) — until issue is published

Yes

Unknown (experiments underway)

Subscription (i.e. pay to read)

Most commercial and non-profit publishers

Open access online journals

Unrestricted

Immediate (usually) — when article is accepted or editing is complete

Yes

Unknown (experiments underway)

Author and/or author’s institution (i.e. pay to publish)

BioMed Central, Public Library of Science, Oxford University Press, Springer (only by author’s choice). See the Directory of Open Access Journalsfor a complete list.

Institutional repositories

Accommodates various content:

Unrestricted

Immediate

Possible — depends on content type and policy

Libraries (usually)

Institutional support

UC's eScholarship Repository, MIT’s DSpace

Working papers/pre-prints

Unrestricted

Immediate

Possible

Libraries

Institutional support

UC's eScholarship Repository, MIT’s DSpace

Re-prints/post-prints

Unrestricted

Immediate

Yes

Libraries

Institutional support

UC's eScholarship Repository, MIT’s DSpace

Primary source data

Unrestricted

Immediate

Possible

Libraries

Institutional support

None yet

Other content (instructional materials, etc.)

Unrestricted

Immediate

Possible

Libraries

Institutional support

MIT’s DSpace

Disciplinary repository

Unrestricted

Immediate — when item is deposited

Yes for included post-prints

Unknown

Institutional support

arXiv, PubMed Central, CogPrints

Departmental and personal web sites

Unrestricted

Immediate — when item is deposited

Can be quality filtered

Unknown

Institutional support (may be informal)

Many UC departments have separate web sites