Position of University of Melbourne
- The University of Melbourne is committed to disseminating its research as widely as possible to improve the public good by accelerating the pace of discovery, encouraging innovation, enriching education, and stimulating the economy.
- Research outputs should be shared in a timely and accessible manner. This includes research outputs created by both academic staff and graduate researchers.*
- The University supports multiple pathways to open access, including:
- Depositing research outputs to repositories;
- Publishing in open access venues;
- Publishing in journals and with book publishers covered by institutional open access publishing agreements; or,
- Publishing under models that involve publishers transitioning from paywalls to open access, including Subscribe to Open models.
- The University discourages the payment of Article Processing Charges (APCs) to hybrid journals. Alternative open access pathways are preferred, as outlined above.
- The University strongly encourages and supports researchers to enact a rights retention clause when submitting research outputs for publication in order to ensure they retain full reuse rights over their research.
- The University recognises the contributions of graduate research theses to scholarly discourse and is committed to making research theses freely and openly available in a timely manner.*
* The University recognises that open access will not be appropriate in all circumstances, for example where disclosure obligations or restrictions exist due to ethical, privacy, cultural, regulatory, or legal reasons. Researchers should consider relevant policies, including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Heritage Policy (MPF1289), the Intellectual Property Policy (MPF1320), the Research Data Management Policy (MPF1242), as well as relevant research contracts with collaborators or funders.
Expectations of researchers
- Researchers are encouraged to include a rights retention clause in their manuscript when submitting a journal article or conference paper for peer review and publication in a venue that does not, by default, allow the published version (Version of Record) to be made open access with a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence. The following rights retention statement may be used:
"For the purposes of open access, the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission."
- Researchers are expected by the University to make their peer-reviewed journal articles and peer-reviewed conference papers open access immediately upon publication through one of the supported pathways:
- Deposit an Author Accepted Manuscript in an institutional repository, general repository, or subject repository when you have published behind a paywall in a subscription journal;
- Publish in an open access journal;
- Publish in a journal where the APC is fully waived under an institutional open access publishing agreement; or
- Publish in a journal that is transitioning from subscription to open access without APCs (Subscribe to Open).
- Researchers should apply a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to their research outputs where appropriate, as endorsed by the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Where this licence cannot be applied, researchers should select the least restrictive licensing option that is appropriate for governing the future use of their research.
- Graduate researchers are expected to make their research thesis publicly available via the University’s institutional repository unless otherwise agreed with the University, and to make their thesis available within the University via the repository in all but exceptional cases. Note that the University’s right to publish and share a thesis is irrevocable and cannot be overridden by a private publication agreement.
- The University acknowledges and values the breadth in types of research outputs and encourages researchers to make them open access where possible. This includes books, book chapters and non-traditional research outputs. The University recognises there are challenges associated with making such research output types accessible, due to the variety of forms these can take and issues such as copyright. Support and guidance on all forms of open scholarship are available via the Library.
- As under Research Data Management Policy (MPF1242), researchers are encouraged to publish research data and records to disciplinary, institutional, or other established repositories to allow reuse by other researchers and maximise the value of research, unless prevented by ethical or legal obligations.
- As under Research Integrity and Misconduct Policy (MPF1318), researchers must foster transparency in research publication where appropriate, including through practices such as preregistering research plans or protocols.
- Researchers are encouraged to share preprints in reputable preprint servers or repositories, using open licensing, to facilitate early access to research.
Responsibilities of University of Melbourne
- The University will provide the infrastructure and associated support necessary to increase the openness of research outputs via repositories.
- The University will pursue institutional open access publishing agreements with a focus on long term sustainability and equity.
- The University will support scholar-led and community-developed open access initiatives in order to support a diverse scholarly communications ecosystem.
- The University will provide training and guidance to support researchers to adopt open research practices.
Further information
More information on open access and open research can be found on the Open Scholarship website. Open access pathways are explored on our Open Access Publishing and Repository Open Access pages. A full glossary of terms relating to open access can be found on our Definitions page.
Further guidance on rights retention can be found on our What Is Rights Retention? page.
The Principles for Open Access to Research Outputs at Melbourne were last updated on 25 July 2023, following endorsement by University Executive and Academic Board.
Page last updated 10 April 2025.
Unless otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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).
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.
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.
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.