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Recently I learned about open access and that there are many ways in which the publishers implement it. How do I find out if a paper is Diamond/Gold/Green access?

I guess if the paper is listed in a journal but a pre-print is available on the authors' webpage/repository then it is Green access. Is that correct?

Next how do I find out whether a paper appearing on the journal's website is gold access or diamond access? (Basically did the authors pay to make their paper open)

Thanks

user50123
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if the paper is listed in a journal but a pre-print is available on the authors' webpage/repository then it is Green access. Is that correct?

Not exactly. The paper may be published under a green OA agreement even if the author did not publish it on their webpage, or the author may have shared it illegally. For a more authoritative answer, you should instead look up the journal on Sherpa/Romeo and see if it allows publishing pre/postprints.

Next how do I find out whether a paper appearing on the journal's website is gold access or diamond access? (Basically did the authors pay to make their paper open)

The journal's webpage will usually tell you if there are publication charges, and how much they are. Even if they advertise charges, these may be waived under certain conditions (for instance: agreement with the author's institution; author comes from a developing country). Ultimately, there is no way to pay if two third parties reached an agreement and waived that fee; that is a private contract between them and none of your business. :)

(Anyway, why do you care exactly? Is this to know if you will be charged to publish your future paper in the same venue? Or for a research/statistic?)

Federico Poloni
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I guess if the paper is listed in a journal but a pre-print is available on the authors' webpage/repository then it is Green access. Is that correct?

Not necessarily. Green OA allows archiving of the published paper, which is not the same as the preprint. If you find the published paper then yes it is green OA.

Next how do I find out whether a paper appearing on the journal's website is gold access or diamond access? (Basically did the authors pay to make their paper open)

Access the paper, then look at the top of the first page with the copyright. If it says (c) the authors, it is usually gold/diamond open access. As for whether the authors paid for it, go to the journal's webpage and see if they have publication fees. If they don't, it's diamond.

Allure
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    I don't think the claim here that "free availability of a pre-print does not count as open access" is correct -- in practical terms, or in common usage. See e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_access#Archiving . – David Ketcheson Sep 01 '20 at 06:43
  • What if it is not the authors who paid for it, but there is an agreement between the publisher and their employer/organization/etc.? – user151413 Sep 01 '20 at 09:00
  • @DavidKetcheson did I write "free availability of a pre-print does not count as open access"? What gave you that impression? – Allure Sep 01 '20 at 09:27
  • If you're referring to green OA, note that is green OA, which is not the same as OA. That's backed up in the Wikipedia page you link, The "green" route to OA refers to author self-archiving, in which a version of the article (often the peer-reviewed version before editorial typesetting, called "postprint") is posted online to an institutional and/or subject repository. (The postprint is also not the same as the preprint.) – Allure Sep 01 '20 at 09:31
  • @user151413 it'd be some shade of OA then, probably gold. – Allure Sep 01 '20 at 09:40
  • If a preprint is available for free, we call that green open access. The "usually" clause on Wikipedia does not contradict that. This is consistent with common sense, and all references I know of (e.g. https://casrai.org/open-access-glossary/, https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/open-access-and-the-humanities/glossary-of-open-access-terms/6E0F41EB7B359E91A17137E91F97B401, https://www.fosteropenscience.eu/content/definitions-terms-used-open-science-and-open-access-introductory. – David Ketcheson Sep 02 '20 at 08:02
  • @DavidKetcheson if we take that definition then most physics papers are already green OA, rendering the term not very meaningful. Your interpretation is also contradicted by, e.g., https://publishingsupport.iopscience.iop.org/questions/what-is-iop-publishings-green-open-access-policy/, plus one of the links you cite which says "Is often subject to an embargo period imposed by publishers, generally of between 6 and 12 months" - something that doesn't usually apply to preprints. – Allure Sep 02 '20 at 08:22
  • I will further point out that many publishers, e.g. Elsevier (https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies/sharing) already allow preprints to be shared anywhere at any time. If one takes OA to mean "preprints are freely available" then Elsevier is an open access publisher, which violates common sense. – Allure Sep 02 '20 at 08:36
  • I can't follow your logic, and I think you've wandered from the topic at hand. In any case, I doubt that further exchange of comments here will accomplish anything. – David Ketcheson Sep 02 '20 at 13:36