Which is More Cost-Effective: Gold OA or Green OA?

In the current issue of D-Lib Magazine John Houghton, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia and Alma Swan, Key Perspectives, Truro, United Kingdom, argue that disseminating scholarship through open access (OA) is clearly more cost-effective than traditional subscription or toll-access publishing. They also consider the relative merits of Gold OA versus Green OA. They conclude: "In an all-OA world, it seems likely that the net benefits of Gold OA would exceed those of Green OA, although Green OA would have a higher benefit/cost ratio. However, we are not in an all-OA world yet, nor anywhere near it. The most affordable and cost-effective means of moving towards OA in the meantime is through Green OA, which can be adopted unilaterally at the funder, institutional, sectoral and national levels at little cost. Moreover, Green OA may well be the most immediate and cost-effective way to support knowledge transfer and enable innovation across the economy."

Their article is entitled "Planting the Green Seeds for a Golden Harvest: Comments and Clarifications on 'Going for Gold'."