Definitions
Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) / Accepted version
The version of an article, paper, book, or book chapter that has been accepted for publication. It is the author’s final manuscript version after peer review and revisions. It is a version before the publisher’s copyediting, typesetting, and formatting results in a proof.
Find out more about article versions on the Minerva Access website.
Article Processing Charge (APC)
Fees levied by a journal for publishing an article open access. They are sometimes charged by open access journals and may be their only source of income. Hybrid journals always charge APCs for an article to published open access. For hybrid journals, this is an additional income source to subscriptions.
APCs may be paid by an author, their institution, or a funding body. These charges may be waived if an institutional open access publishing agreement is in place.
Book Processing Charge (BPC) / Chapter Processing Charge (CPC)
Fees levied by a book publisher for publishing a book or book chapter open access. Most major academic book publishers will charge a BPC or CPC to publish open access. Some open access book publishers do not levy BPCs or CPCs, being supported by institutions and other funders. BPCs and CPCs may be paid by an author, their institution, or a funding body.
Creative Commons licences
Open licences that have become best practice in open access publishing. They are built using a combination of elements:
- BY (Attribution)
- SA (Share-Alike)
- NC (Non-Commercial)
- ND (No Derivatives)
All licences are detailed on the Creative Commons website.
The most open of the licences is the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence. This licence allows authors to retain their copyright while granting others permission to distribute, use, adapt, remix, and build upon the material. It only requires that attribution is given to the original creator. This is the preferred licence of the Australian Research Council (ARC), the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), and the University of Melbourne.
The most restrictive licence is the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) licence. This licence does not allow for any commercial uses or the sharing of any adaptations or derivatives. It greatly restricts how others can use the work. When adopted as part of an exclusive licence to publish with a publisher, it can result in a significant loss of author rights.
Elements
The University of Melbourne’s internal research outputs management system.
The Elements platform is used for the collection and reporting of metadata on the University’s research outputs. Publications details in researchers’ Find an Expert profiles are drawn from their Elements profile.
Depositing Author Accepted Manuscripts (AAMs) in Elements is one pathway to making research outputs open access in Minerva Access, our institutional repository.
The Elements platform is developed by Symplectic, part of Digital Science.
Embargo
In the context of scholarly publishing, embargoes are access restrictions placed on research outputs. While embargoed, research outputs are not available to the public. Embargoes can be temporary or permanent.
Most publishers of subscription (paywalled) journal articles, for example, place embargo requirements on peer-reviewed manuscripts. They often require that Author Accepted Manuscripts (AAMs) are embargoed at publication, typically for 12 or 24 months. Once the embargo has expired, the AAM can be made open access in a repository. Staff at our institutional repository, Minerva Access, check publisher policies and manage embargo periods before making any manuscripts publicly available.
Researchers may also choose to embargo their own outputs. This may be required for privacy, sensitivity, or to adhere to agreements with third parties. Datasets deposited to Melbourne Figshare, for example, can be embargoed when necessary. This results in a dataset record in Figshare with no publicly downloadable files. Graduate researchers may request to embargo their theses under some circumstances.
Gold open access
Definitions vary, but “gold” open access typically refers to publishing with fully open access journals or publishers. The output is made freely available immediately upon publication, usually under a Creative Commons licence.
Note that some publishers use the term “gold” to refer to paid open access in subscription journals. Today, this is more commonly referred to as “hybrid” open access.
Green open access
“Green” open access is when a paywalled research output is made freely available to the public in a repository. At the University of Melbourne, we tend to refer to this as “repository open access.” We maintain an institutional repository, Minerva Access, to facilitate green open access to research outputs.
Most academic publishers allow the peer-reviewed Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) of a journal article, conference paper, or book chapter to be made green open access. That is, they can be made freely available in a repository, usually after an embargo period (typically between 6 and 36 months).
Including a rights retention statement in a submitted manuscript can enable immediate green open access. See our page "What is Rights Retention?" for more information.
General repository
Multi-disciplinary research repositories that can be used to share Author Accepted Manuscripts (AAMs) or preprints. Examples include Zenodo, HAL Open Science, SSRN, and Figshare. Many, but not all, are non-commercial.
A comprehensive list of reputable repositories can be found in the Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR).
Hybrid journals and publishers
A hybrid journal is a subscription journal that allows open access publishing for a fee. These fees are referred to as open access Article Processing Charges (APCs). The journal is hybrid because it contains both open access and paywalled content.
The APCs levied by hybrid journals are, on average, higher than those levied by open access journals. APCs can be waived if an author is eligible for an institutional open access publishing agreement. Some publishers also waive these fees for authors from low-income countries.
Similarly, hybrid book publishers levy Book Processing Charges (BPCs) or Chapter Processing Charges (CPCs) to publish content open access where they would usually be paywalled.
Institutional open access publishing agreements
A contract entered into by an institution, such as a university, and a publisher to facilitate open access publishing. Such agreements may let affiliated corresponding authors to publish open access without facing fees. Such fees are referred to as open access Article Processing Charges (APCs), Book Processing Charges (BPCs), or Chapter Processing Charges (CPCs).
The most common kind of institutional open access publishing agreement today is the Read and Publish agreement. Such agreements, with hybrid/subscription journal publishers, include both read access and an amount of open access publishing. Transformative Agreements that facilitate publishers becoming fully open access have also been emerging. Agreements with fully open access publishers can also be negotiated.
The University of Melbourne's current open access publishing agreements are detailed on the Open Access Publishing page.
Institutional repository
Repositories hosted by institutions, such as universities, to collect their research outputs. They often collect a broad range of output types, including articles, papers, books, reports, data, and creative outputs.
The University of Melbourne has two institutional repositories:
- Minerva Access for research publications including journal articles, conference papers, and book chapters
- Melbourne Figshare for research data, reports, and other non-traditional research outputs (NTROs)
You can find out more about Minerva Access and Melbourne Figshare on our Repository Open Access page.
Metadata
Information that describes an item or asset. That is, metadata is data about items such as a research output or research dataset. This metadata may be compiled into a publication records in platform such as Elements or Minerva Access.
The metadata of a journal article, for example, will usually include information such as: the author(s) and their affiliations, article title, date of publication, journal title, journal ISSN, publisher, volume, issue, page range, DOI, licence and access rights, and funder grant ID.
Minerva Access
The University of Melbourne’s institutional repository for research publications, including journal articles, book chapters, and theses. Using Minerva Access, University of Melbourne researchers can often make their publications open access.
University staff can deposit their research outputs in Minerva Access by either:
- uploading files in Elements,
- completing a ServiceNow form, or
- emailing the Research Outputs team.
Find out more on the Minerva Access website.
Non-Traditional Research Output (NTRO)
A broad term encompassing research outputs other than peer-reviewed scholarly publications (journal articles, books and book chapters, conference publications).
NTROs include:
- artworks
- creative writing
- reports
- films
- performances
- audio recordings
- music composition
- building and design projects
- curated exhibitions
- portfolios
Some of the above may also be referred to as Artistic and Practice Based Research Outputs.
To be considered a research output for reporting purposes, an NTRO must meet the definition of research. The following definition is provided in the Australian Research Council's 2018-19 ERA report:
Research is defined as the creation of new knowledge and/or the use of existing knowledge in a new and creative way so as to generate new concepts, methodologies, inventions and understandings. This could include synthesis and analysis of previous research to the extent that it is new and creative.
University of Melbourne researchers can find out more about reporting their NTROs on the Research Outputs website.
Open access
A research outputs that is publicly available online, such that any user can find, access, read, and download the output without charge.
Best practice in open access is to use an open licence, such as a Creative Commons licence. CC licences permit users to copy, distribute, print, search, link, crawl, mine, and otherwise use and reuse the research output, as long as proper attribution is provided.
Find out more on our What Is Open Access? page.
Open access journals and publishers
Journals or publishers that release all their content open access. Research outputs are made freely available online such that anyone can find, access, download, read, use, and share the output. Sharing and reuse is typically facilitated through open licences, such as Creative Commons licences.
A comprehensive list of open access journals can be found in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). The DOAJ is a quality controlled index and clearly displays any publishing fees levied by journals.
Almost 70% of the journals listed in DOAJ do not levy fees, being free for authors and readers alike. Such journals are usually funded by institutions, organisations, associations, or grants. The University of Melbourne publishes or co-publishes a range of scholar-led open access journals that do not levy publishing fees.
Paywall
A cost barrier to accessing content online. Paywalls can be overcome by having a subscription (either institutional or individual) or paying a one-off access fee.
Paywalled content is sometimes referred to as closed or closed access, as opposed to open or open access.
Plan S
An international initiative wherein grant funders require research articles to be immediately open access upon publication. Open access pathways compliant with Plan S include:
- Publishing in a fully open access journal or open access platform.
- Making the output open access in a repository. (The rights retention strategy has been designed to support this pathway.)
Plan S was initiated in 2018 by cOAlition S, an international consortium of research funding organisations. cOAlition S members includes the World Health Organization, the European Commission, the Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, and the NHMRC (from 2022).
Find out more on our Funder open access policies page and on the cOAlition S website.
Preprint
A version of an article or paper that is shared openly prior to formal peer review or publication.
Preprints are typically shared on preprint servers, such as arXiv.org, bioRxiv, OSF Preprints, SSRN, or Zenodo.
Find out more on our Preprints page.
Read and Publish (R&P) agreement
Contracts entered into by institutions and publishers wherein institutions pay for both read access to subscription content and an amount of open access publishing.
The open access publishing component may be uncapped (unlimited) or capped (limited). It may cover only a select titles list from the publisher, or select imprints. In many cases, the agreements only cover select hybrid journals, with publishing fees still being levied for open access journals.
Most of the R&P agreements in place at the University of Melbourne were negotiated by the Council of Australasian University Librarians (CAUL). All of the University’s current R&P agreements are detailed on our Open Access Publishing page.
Repository
An online digital archive, usually open to the public, that stores and provides access to research outputs. Common types of repositories include: institutional repositories, general repositories, and subject repositories.
Research output
A work produced during a research project. Research outputs are very diverse in nature. They range from journal articles and books, to research data, code, and creative works.
Rights retention
When authors pre-emptively assert sharing rights over peer-reviewed manuscripts at the time of initial submission to a publisher. A rights retention statement usually declares the application of a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM). Upon article publication, the AAM can be deposited in a repository for immediate repository open access.
In alignment with the Plan S Rights Retention Strategy, the 2026 NHMRC and MRFF Open Science Policy includes a rights retention requirement for their Repository open access pathway (Author Accepted Manuscript or AAM open access). Upon article publication, authors are expected to make their AAM open access under a CC BY licence in a repository. This strategy is also strongly encouraged by the University's Principles for Open Access to Research Outputs at Melbourne.
For more information on author rights retention, see our What is rights retention? page. Further guidance on the NHMRC's requirements can be found on our Funder open access policies page and in the 2026 NHMRC and MRFF Open Science Policy.
Subject repository
Discipline-specific research repositories that can be used to share peer-reviewed Author Accepted Manuscripts (AAMs) or preprints.
Examples include PubMed Central for medical research and RePEc EconPapers for economics research. Discipline-specific preprint servers, such as arXiv.org, bioRxiv, and medRxiv, can also be referred to as subject repositories.
Subject repositories are usually non-commercial and supported by institutions, organisations, or grants. A comprehensive list of reputable subject repositories can be found in the Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR).
Submitted manuscript
The version of a publication originally submitted to a publisher, such as a journal or book publisher. This version typically undergoes editorial review and may subsequently be sent on for peer review.
In the past, submitted manuscripts were sometimes called preprints, although this term now has a different meaning: early versions of papers shared prior to peer review on preprint servers. Submitted manuscripts may be shared as preprints, or may already be available as preprints.
Find out more about article versions on the Minerva Access website.
Subscribe to Open (S2O)
A publishing model wherein a journal makes the coming year’s content open access if their annual subscription target is reached. Content is published open access without author-facing open access Article Processing Charges (APCs).
Similar models have also been adopted by some book publishers, as in the case of MIT Press’s Direct to Open (D2O) program. Participating institutions receive access to the publisher’s backlist/archives and, if participation targets are met, the coming year’s books are published open access.
Some of the S2O initiatives currently supported by the University of Melbourne are listed on our Open Scholarship Initiatives page.
Venue
The place in which a research output is published. This could be a journal, conference proceedings, book series, or website. It is the place in which the final, published work appears. Different venues have different scopes in what they publish and typically have different audiences.
Version of Record (VoR)
The final published version of a research output. This is usually the publisher’s final PDF.
Unless the work is published open access, this version cannot generally be shared or made open access in a repository.
Find out more about article versions on the Minerva Access website.
Page last updated 11 April 2025.
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