The terms Green and Gold Open Access encompass two specific factors: copyright permissions and the cost of publishing and access.
Green Open Access indicates the author’s retention of posting privileges in some form to a free, open access repository—most often an Institutional Repository such as DigitalCommons@UMaine or a disciplinary repository.
Gold Open Access refers to publishers of open access journals. The cost of production does not fall to the subscribers but to the authors who submit materials for publication. SpringerOpen is an example of a well-known publisher offering open access journals that require author fees and provide rigorous peer review.
Gratis Access provides public access, free of charge with all rights-reserved copyright, allowing for fair use.
Libre Access provides access free of charge and free of all copyright restrictions.
To maximize dissemination of grant-funded research, an increasing number of agencies mandate that peer-reviewed research products be made freely available to the public by the earliest possible date. To help researchers achieve this goal, Fogler Library oversees management of the University of Maine’s green open access institutional repository, DigitalCommons@UMaine.
Similarly, funding organizations are requiring grant recipients to archive research data sets in appropriate public archives to facilitate results validation and support work by other researchers. Digital Commons supports most digital file types up to 2GB in size.
The Advanced Computing Group at the University of Maine supports the DMPTool, helping grant applicants create custom data management plans. For more information about Data Management resources available to UMaine researchers, visit our Research Data Management Guide or contact Subject Specialists Nancy Curtis, 207.581.1679, ncurtis@maine.edu, or Jen Bonnet, 207.581.3611, jennifer.l.bonnet@maine.edu, with your questions.
Find additional resources and information about scholarly publishing in open access.
In January 2014, U.S. Congress approved a bill to make taxpayer-funded scientific research freely accessible in a digital environment. Learn more about H.R. 3547 the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 (title as of 08/12/2014).
Other proposed legislation that remains pending includes H.R. 708, Fair Access to Technology Research Act and H.R. 3157, Public Access to Public Science Act.
Sherpa/Juliet is a searchable, collaborative database that provides summaries of funding agencies’ grant conditions on self-archiving research publications and data. Search grant agency conditions in Sherpa/JULIET.
Regular Building Hours
| Monday – Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday |
7:30 am – Midnight |
More information on our hours page.