Strategic Publishing: OA Opportunities at Otago
Otago Open Access Publishing Agreements
From January 2025, Otago-affiliated researchers can publish their research and scholarly articles as Open Access without paying individual article processing charges.
This is possible through the Otago Open Access Publishing Agreements (formerly known as Read and Publish Agreements), which cover over 9,500 journals from 19 publishers.
Researchers are encouraged to use the Journal Title Search App, Publisher Search Page or refer to the Full Title List 2025 to check if their preferred journal is included before submitting their work.
For detailed information on each publisher’s agreement, check the relevant page in this LibGuide.
OUR Archive: Otago's institutional repository
OUR Archive (Otago University Research Archive) collates and showcases the quality research outputs of the University of Otago. It includes a wide range of research outputs, such as journal articles, reports, books, chapters, conference items, preprints, electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs), and creative works.
OUR Archive is public-facing: anyone, anywhere can browse and search the contents by title, subject, identifier, research output type, or researcher. The repository is indexed by Google Scholar, increasing the discoverability and visibility of those works added to the repository. Records in OUR Archive also include usage metrics: number of repository record views and downloads, and number of citations captured by Web of Science.
OUR Archive utilises a Smart Harvest feature which means that most new Otago research works will be automatically added to OUR Archive, removing the deposit burden from the researcher. Harvest occurs once a published work is indexed in a publication database. If you have a new publication, please allow at least 14 days for it to be harvested before making a self-deposit - in most cases, the system will do the deposit work for you. For items that typically are not indexed in scholarly databases, researchers can deposit the work directly into OUR Archive. For information on uploading your Otago research to OUR Archive, please review the Guide & Resources and FAQs for Otago Researchers pages on OUR Archive.
OUR Archive can also help you to comply with MBIE's Open Research policy through deposit of your author-accepted manuscript, making your research open-access within 12 months of publication (subject to publisher permissions).
For more information, please review the resources on OUR Archive or contact ourarchive@otago.ac.nz.
The OUR Journals service (OJS)
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The OUR Journals service (OJS) supports Otago academic staff in making scholarly research available in an online environment, based on Open Journal Systems. If you are setting up a journal at the University of Otago, the library can provide support. Click this link to learn how to become a part of OJS and get help from librarians at Otago. Open Journal Systems is an open-source, free, customisable software platform for managing and publishing scholarly journals online. This system provides a complete solution for managing the editorial workflow, publishing content online, and indexing and archiving articles. OJS articles can be fully indexed in Google Scholar, Crossref, DOAJ, and many other indexing and abstracting services. |
Open Textbooks Service
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| ADOPT | ADAPT | CREATE |
| Use an existing open text | Adapt one to your own needs | Create your own text |
The Open Textbook Service is an initiative of the Consortium of Australasian University Librarians (CAUL), with about 30 universities taking part in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. Otago can have two books published on the Pressbooks platform each year, so talk to us about signing up as soon as possible.
CAUL has extensive further information available:
- OER and Other Key Concepts provides a background to Open Educational Resources
- The CAUL OER Collective Publishing Workflow covers every step of the process from planning to peer review to publication
- Join a Community of Practice with other academic authors
