Open Access

Open Access means free access to scholarly literature on the internet without financial, legal or technical barriers while authors retain legal control over their publication.

  • Scientific research is overwhelmingly funded by the public sector, therefore research results should be accessible to the public.
  • Open Access speeds up scholarly communication because there are no barriers to access information.
  • Publications that are freely available have greater visibility (through search engines) and thus a better chance of reception.
  • Open Access promotes international and interdisciplinary collaboration

a) Gold Open Access

This refers to the primary publication of scholarly works as articles in Open Access journals, as Open Access monographs, or as contributions to openly accessible edited volumes or conference proceedings. The publishing costs are not borne by readers (in the academic system usually represented by the libraries of scientific institutions) but by the producing side (e.g. authors, editors, publishers and research funding organisations).

b) Green Open Access

This refers to the practice of providing Open Access to a version of a work published in a closed-access journal or a closed-access book by depositing it in an openly accessible institutional or disciplinary document server (e.g. repository). Parallel publication can take place simultaneously with or subsequently to primary publication (for instance as pre-prints and postprints of scholarly articles, but it also applies to monographs, research reports and conference proceedings).

More information

EconStor supports Green Open Access. All papers on EconStor are made freely available without restrictions or embargo periods. Publication on EconStor is based on usage agreements with authors or the editors/publishers of a series or journal. Authors' copyrights are safeguarded. Publication on EconStor does not inhibit further publication of the documents in journals or on other document servers. Disseminating publications with EconStor is free for publishers and authors (FAQ).