There are multiple ways to make scholarship - including articles, book chapters, conference proceedings, and monographs - openly available. The two main pathways are:

Author-Archived ("Green") Open Access

Under a green open access model, publishers restrict access to the publications on their website to readers with subscriptions but authors can deposit a version of these works (usually the peer-reviewed version of the manuscript that has been accepted but not yet formatted for publication) in an institutionally-hosted or other repository where it is freely available to read and reuse. 

Stanford authors can make their research publications openly available by depositing them in the Stanford Digital Repository (SDR). The SDR offers persistent access at a permanent URL and secure, long term storage. Depositing to the repository is quick and easy - simply complete a brief web form about your submission and upload the related file. If you have not previously submitted material, you'll be prompted to set up an account when you first visit the deposit interface and a member of the repository team will ensure you are able to add items to one of Stanford's open access collections.

Publisher-Hosted ("Gold") Open Access

Gold open access makes the final version of a research publication openly available on the publisher's website. This frequently involves the author paying a fee or "article processing charge" (APC) at the time of publication. Authors generally retain copyright in their gold open access publications and can select a license for their work that lets others know how they can use the content.

Publishing pursuant to the Gold open access model often requires payment of a fee or "article processing charge" (APC). These fees range from a few hundreds dollars to many thousands of dollars, with some prominent journals asking authors to pay upwards of $10,000 per article for open access publishing. 

Stanford Libraries cannot currently offer funds to assist authors in paying article processing charges. Authors often use grant funding to cover these fees, particularly when their funder requires that research outputs be made openly available. Stanford authors are encouraged to consider free open access options, such as depositing the appropriate version of their publications in the Stanford Digital Repository.