Open Research - Open Access
Open Access
DCU Open Research
Open Access refers to the principle and practice of making digital versions of scholarly publications freely accessible. This has multiple benefits over paywalled material, such as greater reach and potential impact, public access to publicly-funded research, equitable access e.g. for developing countries and increased likelihood of research Influencing policy and practice beyond academic institutions.
Green OA with Doras
- Green OA refers to self-archiving a copy of your published work in a repository.
- Doras is DCU's Research Repository. It accepts peer-reviewed articles and other output types.
- Doras is crawled by search engines such as Google Scholar, increasing discoverability.
- In many cases the version uploaded must be the Author Accepted Manuscript or AAM.
- Remember to keep your copy of your AAM when accepted for publication.
How do I upload to Doras?
- Directly, at doras.dcu.ie (see demo below)
- Email to doras@dcu.ie
- Via Research Engine (for staff)
Gold OA via Publisher Agreements
****2026 OA Agreements News****
Most of the OA publisher agreements are now confirmed to renew for 2026. This means articles accepted for eligible journals from these publishers on or after 01/01/26 are elgible for APC coverage from the 2026 allocation.
Any outstanding publishers are indicated below as "awaiting renewal". APC coverage for eligible articles from these publishers will be honoured pending confirmation of renewal.
- Gold OA refers to publishers making content open without a subscription or embargo period
- Typically this is funded via an Article Processing Charge or APC, a one-off payment for publishing services
- DCU members may avail of Publisher Agreements negotiated by DCU Library/IReL to fund APCs
- These agreements cover over 11,000 journals. See the full list at http://bit.ly/irelOAjournals or by publisher in the table below
Please note:
- The corresponding author must be a DCU member, usually at the point when the article is accepted for publication
- An agreement with a publisher may not include all of their journals
- APC allocations are not unlimited and may expire within a calendar year
Click on a publisher name below to see full terms of each agreement.
Publishers shaded in yellow/orange below are those we have a projection for when their allocation is likely to expire for 2026. These are subject to change and are updated as and when we receive further notifications from IReL.
| ACM Open (awaiting renewal) |
Elsevier (ScienceDirect) | RIA |
| AIP | Emerald | Royal Society |
AAMs can be posted in Doras without embargo |
IEEE | Royal Society of Chemistry |
| American Physical Society | Institute of Physics | Sage |
| ASME | John Benjamins | SCOAP3 |
| Annual Reviews | Microbiology Society | Springer Nature |
| BMJ | Optica | Taylor & Francis |
| Cambridge UP (awaiting renewal) |
Oxford UP | The Company of Biologists |
| De Gruyter Brill (new for 2026) |
PLOS | Wiley |
| Electrochemical Society | Rockefeller University Press |
For further guidance on APCs contact Liam O'Dwyer, Open Research Librarian at: liam.odwyer@dcu.ie.
Policies and Strategies
Alongside the benefits of open access, it is also increasingly a requirement of funded research:
- Taighde Éireann / Research Ireland
- Health Research Board (HRB)
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- EU Horizon
- European Research Council
In a national and local context, the NORF Action Plan commits to 100% OA by 2030, while DCU's Strategy 2023-28 commits to 75% of its published articles as OA in 5 years.
Open Access Publishing in DCU
DCU is actively involved in a number of open publishing initiatives, including DCU Press, which launched its first book in January 2024.
