I've had two people now come back to me on Twitter saying that Gold Open Access, "by definition", means that the author pays. It does not. Much of the terminology around Open Access was proposed by Peter Suber and here's what he has to say about it (I've bolded the relevant portions): OA journals ("gold OA"): OA journals conduct peer review. OA journals find it easier than non-OA journals to let authors retain copyright.