Publishing in Academic Law Journals

Open access (OA) is a scholarly communication model that grants free and open online access to academic information. In simpler terms, academic journals and books are made freely available to all. This is different than the traditional “closed” publication model that requires users to pay to access content through either a one-time fee or a subscription.  

Increased Access to Information 

In principle, open access improves access to and dissemination of knowledge because there are no paywalls between readers and journal content. Increased access to information can benefit everyone from fellow scholars to the public. For instance, open access can ensure that information that could guide policy changes is freely disseminated.  

Potential Benefits 

It has been speculated that OA can offer several benefits to researchers, including greater visibility and increased citations, but these benefits have not yet been proven.  

Funding Obligations 

You may also want to consider your obligations when it comes to publishing. Canada’s federal research granting agencies (CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC) require any peer-reviewed publications resulting from Tri-Agency funded research projects be made freely available (in other words, open access) at the time of publication. All researchers are encouraged to check their obligations in their funding contracts. 

• Making Your Publications Open Access – Queen's University Library has a short guide on how to make your work open access, whether it be through publishing open access or archiving your work in QSpace. 

• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) - A directory of indexed open access journals around the world. 

• CRKN Open Access Journals List - A list of open access journals supported by the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) member institutions.