Research Guides: Open Access (draft 20230606): RGC OA Reporting

RGC OA Reporting

Starting from year 2022, universities funded by University Grants Committee (UGC) are required to indicate in their reports the open access arrangement of their UGC-funded research outputs*, e.g. published under a Transformative Agreement, published with an Article Processing Charge, open access but with embargo period, etc.

*Only applicable for RGC-funded Type 21 and 22 academic research (refereed) outputs (Learn more about RGC research output categories)

To tell if a journal article is open access, you can refer to the tips below:

A step-by-step guide on Open Access status checking

Able to access the article's fulltext outside CityU network
As a member of City University of Hong Kong, you are entitled to access many full-text articles with CityU Library's subscription. However, being able to open and read the full-text in school or outside campus through University network doesn't necessarily mean that the articles are open access. A truly open access article should be readable regardless of network/location, that is, even under a non-CityU network environment (e.g. access through your own internet service provider), you should still be able to access it without any authentication.

Within CityU network

Outside CityU network

Hint: Refer to the publisher's banner to see if you are in CityU network environment.

Has an open access icon / wording
Most open access articles will have an open access icon / wording associated with them. Try to look out for them in the article overview page / full-text (e.g. under article's title, near full-text button).

Under a Creative Commons license
In most cases, an open access article utilizes a Creative Commons License to indicate author's permission of allowing others to copy, distribute, and make some uses of his work. Other than Creative Commons licenses, authors can also use other publishing licenses to convey the copyright management and open access arrangement.