Levels of Open Access

[reeseIngraham]

There are many kinds of open access, but they broadly fit into three categories: libre, which is open access that allows content to be free to read and generally, there are no barriers for reuse, gratis, which is open access that allows content to be free to read, but has barriers for reuse, and then there's one level (black) that fits into neither libre nor gratis. Sourced mostly from Open Book Publishers, Researcher.Life, and Taylor & Francis.

Gratis

Type of Open Access	Version	Fees	Copyright	Freedom to share/reuse?	Examples
Diamond/Platinum	Access to published version of the work, including copyediting, typesetting, metadata tagging, proofreading, indexing, marketing, and distribution.	No fees	Retained by author	Full and unrestricted license to share and reuse	Open Book Publishers
Gold	Access to published version of the work, including copyediting, typesetting, metadata tagging, proofreading, indexing, marketing, and distribution.	Submission fees, no fees for reading or open access	Retained by author	Full and unrestricted license to share and reuse	Taylor & Francis offers a Gold Open Access option

Libre

Type of Open Access	Version	Fees	Copyright	Freedom to share/reuse?	Examples
Bronze	Access to the published version of the work, including copyediting, typesetting, metadata tagging, proofreading, indexing, marketing, and distribution.	Submission fees, no fees for reading or open access	Not retained by the author	Temporary license to share and reuse that the publisher may restrict at any time	Springer allowed many STEM textbooks to be available for free download as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but have since retracted that ability.
Green	Access to a preprint, not the published version of the work, is available, typically on a repository or the author’s personal website	Submission fees	Not retained by author	Barriers to sharing and reuse	National Bureau of Economics Research, Taylor & Francis offers a Green Open Access option
Hybrid	Access to the published version of the work, including copyediting, typesetting, metadata tagging, proofreading, indexing, marketing, and distribution.	Submission fees + fees for open access	Copyright isn’t retained by the author	Barriers to sharing and reuse	Wiley

Neither Gratis Nor Libre

Type of Open Access	Version	Fees	Copyright	Freedom to share/reuse?	Examples
Black	Access to the published version of the work or a preprint	Depends on the original publisher’s policy	Depends on the original publisher’s policy	Legal barriers to sharing and reuse; no practical barriers	Sci-Hub, Libgen