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Publishing in Open Access: what is the best option?

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The list of journals for the Biology Section is .

Updated on: April 2, 2025

[Update frequency: as soon as possible for agreements with publishers, annually for verification of other information.]

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The list of relevant journals includes titles where Biology research groups have regularly published during the years 2014 to 2023 (source: PubMed). It is therefore a selection of journals, made up of the titles in which there have been frequent publications, and over a broad timeframe. Consequently, the list does not include emerging journals or reflects new trends. Nor is it exhaustive: there are many other journals in biology.
This list is not prescriptive and does not recommend certain titles over others. Its purpose is to provide information on Open Access publication conditions and publication costs coverage.

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A list also exists in Chemistry and Biochemistry and may be of interest to you.

What to do if a journal is missing from the file?

You can assess听Open Access publication conditions and publication costs coverage using other resources and tools (see sections below: 鈥淗ow to publish an article in Open Access?鈥� and 鈥淔unding publication costs鈥�).

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How to publish an article in Open Access?

There are several ways to make a publication freely accessible, often illustrated as roads or paths:

  • The gold road consists of publishing the results of one鈥檚 research in an Open Access (OA) journal. Access to the document is immediate and free of charge on the publisher's website. Publication costs (Article Processing Charges or APC) may be covered by the , or under certain conditions by the UNIGE Publication Fund.
    • The diamond road is a sub-category of the gold road: access to articles is immediate and free on the publisher's website, and publication is also free for authors. Diamond journals have no publication nor subscription fees.
  • By following the green road, authors publish in a subscription-based journal (with no publication fees) and deposit a freely accessible copy of their article in an institutional archive, such as . The (formerly Sherpa/Romeo) helps to determine whether a publisher imposes an embargo or restrictions on the version of an article that can be disseminated.
  • The hybrid model consists of publishing an article in a subscription-based journal and paying a publication fee to make the article available in Open Access. To avoid the publisher receiving double remuneration (subscription + APC), there are agreements with some publisher that include journal subscription and Open Access publication at no extra cost.

Funding publication costs

The funding for Open Access publication costs depends on many factors, the most important of which are the journal model (gold/hybrid), whether the article is related to an SNSF project, whether it鈥檚 published in a special issue, and the total amount of the publication costs (APC).

Please note that the cost of page charge, additional material fees or color figure fees are generally not covered, only the cost of Open Access publication (APC) is.

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The opposite flowchart shows the different possibilities for funding an Open Access article.

You can also use the to find out about Open Access options of a journal and possible funding.