Hybrid open access is a kind of open access that combines features of both subscription-based publishing and open access. With hybrid open access, access to articles is restricted to subscribers but authors can also decide to pay an article processing charge (APC) to get their papers freely available to everyone.
Advantages of Hybrid open access
This selective openness allows authors to retain the advantages of publishing in established and prestigious journals while making their work accessible to a broader audience. Hybrid open access can therefore be beneficial for authors who wish to comply with open access mandates from funding agencies or institutions without compromising their publication choices. Also, hybrid open access can generate revenue for publishers, helping sustain the journal's operation.
Challenges of Hybrid open access
Hybrid open access presents, however, some problems. First, the APCs for hybrid journals are often significantly higher than those of full open access journals. Secondly, we have cases of "double-dipping," where publishers continue to charge subscription fees while also collecting APCs for individual open access articles.
Conclusion
Hybrid open access is a kind of open access that combines features of both subscription-based publishing and open access.
Hybrid open access raises many controversies. From the one hand, it allows advantages for researchers such being engaged with open access without nonetheless completely rejecting the idea of pushing on prestigious journals. From the other hand, costs can be too high and automatically exclude good articles.
A good way to embrace hybrid open access is therefore to push institutions and funders to consider supporting fully open access whenever possible and, more specifically, to promote a sustainable transition to open access.