Making something Open Access via the Gold route means to publish in a way that allows immediate access to all readers free of charge. This is done by publishing in Open Access Journals, where authors often pay an APC (Article Processing Charge) to publish. The MONEY for the APC usually comes from the funder or institution (if the institution has an Open Access fund), so authors very rarely pay this charge out of their own pocket.
Everything published in proper Open Access Journals has gone through a formal peer review, however…
PREDATORY journals often skip the peer review process as they exist only to make money from academics who feel pressured to publish. These predatory journals usually email academics asking for submissions to their journal. They will then publish PAPERS without having a proper peer review (if any), allowing them to publish papers very quickly. One way to spot a predatory journal is to look for bad grammar and even spelling in emails, and lack of information on their website.
