Answered By: Elizabeth Roberts Last Updated: Sep 08, 2026 Views: 1719
Open Access (OA) research is free to read online and free to re-use (with some restrictions), whether it's a journal article, data, conference proceedings, or another type of output.
Find out more about different types of Open Access and how it benefits research on our What is open access? webpage.
How do I publish Open Access?
Always check what you need to do before you submit to a journal, otherwise you may find yourself facing charges you cannot pay.
If you want to publish in a journal that doesn't offer Open Access, you can make your author accepted manuscript available in the repository. This is known as Green Open Access.
Find out how to publish Open Access and what funding options are available on our How to make your work Open Access web page. Or, for further help, contact the Open Access Team.
Can I publish a book Open Access?
Yes, you can, but it works differently from journal articles and there are different licence terms and costs involved. Find out more on our Open Access Books webpage or contact the Open Access Manager.
How can I access Open Access literature?
Look out for the gold padlock symbol on a journal article or the copyright phrase CC-BY to tell you it's Open Access. Browser plugins like Unpaywall or LibKey Nomad automatically find Open Access versions of papers for you if the paper has an identifier like a DOI or a PubMed ID.
There are also open access repositories and research sources including OAIster, CORE and institutional, subject and funder repositories such as the University of Liverpool Repository.
The library has subscriptions to many journals, so even if an article isn't Open Access, you may still be able to access it.