There are many forms of Open Access and Open Archives in the science publishing community. Open access, free supplementary data repository, preprints, reprints, and e-links are all available -- we have the full array of the latest publishing options to help you comply with your funding agency's requirements. Authors are responsible for knowing and fulfilling their funding requirements.

Open Access. At MSA, open access (often called Gold Open Access) means the full text of an article in the journal posted on the MSA website or on GeoScienceWorld/DeGruyter is made freely available to read to anyone from the moment it is published by the authors paying the article processing fee. Our open access fees are priced at the per page creation cost to us. (For full financial details, click here.) The author(s) may also link to the article from any other site (or download the file). For now, the article processing fee is on the same online form as the page charges and other ordering info, which is sent with the proof to the corresponding author (although authors may split the costs up if necessary). Note: all fees must be paid in full before your article can be guaranteed a spot in any particular issue, even if you have already been given an issue date and change your mind and decide to choose open access fees.

We are able offer two "Creative Commons" licenses if Open Access authors need or desire those; following acceptance a letter is sent with a link that allows authors to choose and complete our MSA licensure form or instead choose and complete one of two CC options.

Public Access: If you are required to make the peer-reviewed accepted manuscript version of your paper freely available 12 months post-publication, often called Green Open Access, you retain the right to do so in the License to Publish agreement with MSA. In fact, starting in January 2014, we contact all the corresponding authors 12 months –post-publication (i.e., starting with the January 2013 authors) and aid them in this task.

Note that this is not the edited, proofread, and typeset version available on GSW/DeGru and MSA websites and in print. It is actually the preprint version. To make the final typeset version freely available, choose open access or open archive. Also note that any particular funder may have other requirements (from filing or posting in a specific repository to metadata); authors are responsible for any and all of these.

Open Archives: Self-archiving and institutional repositories means the accepted article in any version is posted and made available on another institution's website, presumably for free to anyone. MSA will permit and, if needed, provide a pdf file for self-archiving of any article for which an author pays full article processing fee (details here), which is the per page creation cost. The organization is encouraged to link to the article on the MSA site via an e-link, rather than hosting the file themselves. At this time, authors will find complete information about open access, open archive, e-links and other options on the form sent with the proof of their paper.

Another option that may be useful to authors as well as fulfill funding requirements is an "e-link." The e-link-- whether sent in an email to an inquirer or colleague or posted on a c.v. website or other internet or intranet site-- takes the user to the version of the paper on GeoScienceWorld (GSW). The user can see the full article in html and PDF as well as use other GSW features. This is a free member benefit for authors who are MSA members or available for a small fee otherwise.

The Open Access Chart for American Mineralogist

Examples of using the chart:

• If Author Smith has a requirement to use a CC-BY license, then she must choose OA and pay the APF.
• If Author Zhang has a requirement to be free to all readers after 12 months post-publication and the accepted manuscript is satisfactory for this, they need not pay the APC, but just wait. However they have full responsibility for delivering it to their funder as necessary, including providing metadata or other needs.
• If Author Mendoza needs to be open to all readers sooner than 12 months, she must opt for Open Access and pay the APF (choose which ever license she wants).
• If Author Gunter has extra grant money and wants everyone to read his paper, he can opt for OA, pay the APF, but retain his copyright by using the MSA license.
• If Author Webster has a requirement publish in a non-hybrid journal, they should plan to submit directly to our publishing partner, Lithosphere.