From OA colors to observable access states: A commentary on the 2026 OpenAlex proposal

The OpenAlex Colors Working Group proposes replacing the familiar Gold, Green, Hybrid, Bronze and Closed taxonomy with a work-level framework based on three dimensions: access, location and license. The proposal addresses genuine weaknesses in the legacy color system, particularly its dependence on journal-level characteristics, its difficulty in describing non-article outputs, and its conflation of access conditions with venue business models. This commentary supports that general direction but argues that the proposed labels should not become the primary data model. The central technical issue is that access, location and license are not best understood as three independent attributes of a work: scholarly works commonly have several versions or copies at different locations, and access s