As stated in the open access policy, an author team can choose to pay an article publication charge (APC) to publish a protocol or review as gold open access (immediate open access upon payment of an article publication charge). Some author teams will be eligible for an APC waiver.

There are three types of gold open access licence for publication forms available to authors, known as CC BY (attribution), CC BY-NC (attribution and non-commercial use), and CC BY-NC-ND (attribution, non-commercial use, and no derivatives). The CC BY option is available only to authors with a funder mandate to use this licence. 

As described in the following two scenarios, and in the gold open access policy, author teams will contact the Managing Editor to discuss and make arrangements. The Managing Editor will need to liaise with David Hives (dhives@wiley.com; Cochrane Production Manager, Wiley).

Two scenarios: payment or waiver

Scenario 1: Author wants to pay the article publication charge (APC) for gold open access

  1. Author team wants to pay the APC for gold open access.
  2. Contact author alerts Managing Editor.
  3. Managing Editor sends template email from Editorial Manager that explains open access licence for publication form options and payment information to author; author team and David Hives (dhives@wiley.com; Cochrane Production Manager, Wiley are copied in to template. [See template email for scenario 1 below to explain the process, costs and mandated roles.] (See also Licence for Publication forms.)
  4. Author lets Managing Editor know which open access licence for publication form the team would like or is mandated to use.
  5. Managing Editor selects agreed gold open access licence for publication form on manuscript details. (For further information, see Licence for Publication forms.)
  6. Template email from Editorial Manager copies in David Hives (dhives@wiley.com; Cochrane Production Manager, Wiley) to say open access has been selected. David Hives will manage the payment process from this point onwards. 
  7. Cochrane Review published with open access logo, and relevant copyright and legal information.

Scenario 2: Author requests a waiver for the gold open access article publication charge (APC)

  1. Author team eligible for gold open access waiver because first author is from a Research4Life Group A or B country, provided funding for the Cochrane Review does not include funds for the article publication charge.
  2. Contact author alerts Managing Editor.
  3. Managing Editor checks eligibility against Research4Life list.
  4. Managing Editor sends template email from Editorial Manager to confirm if author is eligible (or not) and sends a link to webpage that explains the two OA lfps that the author can select (CC BY-NC or CC BY-NC-ND). Author team and David Hives (dhives@wiley.com; Cochrane Production Manager, Wiley are copied in to template. [See template email for scenario 2 below to explain the process.] (See also Licence for Publication forms.)
  5. Contact author lets Managing Editor know which open access license for publication form the team would like to select.
  6. Managing Editor selects agreed gold open access licence for publication form on manuscript details. (For further information, see Licence for Publication forms.)
  7. Template email from Editorial Manager copies in  David Hives (dhives@wiley.com; Cochrane Production Manager, Wiley) to say open access has been selected and is eligible for a waiver (i.e. no payment required).
  8. Review published with open access logo, and relevant copyright and legal information.

Template emails for Managing Editors to send to authors (stored in Editorial Manager)

See Licence for Publication forms.

Scenario 1: author pays APC for gold open access

Dear [contact author], copied to [all authors] and David Hives (dhives@wiley.com; Cochrane Production Manager, Wiley)

Thank you for letting me know that you would like to arrange for your review to be open access immediately upon publication (gold open access). Before I can set this up, I need to make you aware that there is an article publication charge (APC) for gold open access (details and pricing available here). David Hives (dhives@wiley.com; Cochrane Production Manager, Wiley), copied into this email, will follow up with you about payment of the APC if you decide to proceed with this and can answer any questions you may have about the payment process.

If you decide to proceed, you will need to decide which of our two standard Creative Commons licence for publication forms you and your co-authors would like to select: CC BY-NC or CC BY-NC-ND. A third Creative Commons licence, the CC BY licence, is available only to those authors whose review funding mandates the use of the CC BY licence for publication form. Please let me know if this applies to your situation along with relevant details from your funder. Details about the different gold open access licences are available here. 

Once you have read the information about the charge for gold open access forms and have let me know which of the Creative Commons licence for publication forms you would like to use, then I will provide you with the agreed form (when your review is approved for publication) to enable your review to be open access immediately upon publication.

Best wishes

[Managing Editor]

Scenario 2: author team eligible for an APC waiver

Dear [contact author], copied to [all authors] and David Hives (dhives@wiley.com; Cochrane Production Manager, Wiley)

Thank you for contacting me about making your Cochrane Review, [TITLE], open access immediately upon publication (gold open access). There is normally an article publication charge (APC) for this, but I am pleased to confirm that your author team is eligible for a waiver because the first author is from a country included in the Research4Life Group A or B countries list (https://www.research4life.org/access/eligibility/), provided funding for your Cochrane Review does not include funds for the APC. You can read more about our open access policies here.  

Before I can set this up, you will need to decide which of our two standard Creative Commons licence for publication forms you and your co-authors would like to select: CC BY-NC or CC BY-NC-ND. Details about the different gold open access licences are available here. 

Once you let me know which of the Creative Commons licence for publication forms you would like to use, I will provide you with the agreed form (when your review is approved for publication) to enable your review to be open access immediately upon publication. 

Best wishes

[Managing Editor]