Gold open access journals publish all of their content open access under a Creative Commons licence. Most gold open access journals charge an article processing charge (APC) payable by the author, institution or funding body. 

Work submitted to gold open access journals is subject to the same rigorous peer review process as in SAGE’s traditional subscription journals. Most journals are members of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and each journal’s peer review policy is outlined in the journal’s manuscript submission guidelines, which can be found on the individual journal’s website on SAGE Journals.