The role of repositories in the future of the journal

The UK Working Group on Expanding Access to Published Research Findings, chaired by Dame Janet Finch, report, “Accessibility, sustainability, excellence: how to expand access to research publications,” helped to crystallize a long simmering debate within the open access (OA) community: should the focus for OA advocates be “green” open access – that is, the use of repositories to make research published through traditional subscription-based venues openly available – or should it be ‘gold’ open access – that is, through publication within venues that are themselves open access? This chapter argues that that this has never truly been an either/or proposition, and that this debate often ignores or minimizes the wide variety of roles – direct and indirect – that repositories play within the larger scholarly publishing ecosystem. Research data, funder and institutional mandates for open access to published research via repositories, and the growing role of library as publisher, are all evidence that the repository – whether institutional or disciplinary or format driven – will continue to play a role within the larger scholarly publishing environment.