Open Access

Open Access means that scientific literature is published online and is accessible free of charge and largely free of legal and technical restrictions^[1].

The Budapest Open Access Initiative, the Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing and the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities are regarded as the fundamental and initial declarations of the Open Access movement. THI signed the Berlin Declaration in 2022, thereby committing itself to the transformation of academic publishing towards Open Access.

THI's commitment to Open Access is implemented in practice in the publication guidelines. It contains the following guidelines:

• The THI encourages all scientists to publish the results of their research more frequently in Open Access journals with scientific peer review. Both the "golden" path(primary publications in Open Access publication media) and the "green" path (secondary publications in repositories) are supported. (see also section “How can Open Access be published?”)
   
• Researchers are also encouraged to enable their staff to publish Open Access in particular.
   
• A university-wide working group consisting of the Open Access Officer Prof. Dr. Marc Aubreville, the Academic Director of the Doctoral School Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Christian Facchi and the Research and Publication Services Department of the THI Library is responsible for anchoring and further developing Open Access at THI.
   
• To provide financial support for Open Access publications, THI provides a publication fund which can be used to partially finance articles in scientific journals on application. Information on the funding process can be found here (in section “”How does the THI Publication Fund cover the costs?).
   
• The Research and Publication Services Department of the THI Library manages the publication fund, monitors Open Access publications, deals with inquiries from researchers and organizes information events and training courses together with the Teaching Library Department.
   

Open Access publications are available online to everyone - researchers, teachers, and students as well as the entire interested public - at any time, free of charge and without access restrictions.

They can be found quickly and easily via search engines such as BASE and Google Scholar as well as databases such as the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB). Research results are thus immediately available to scientists and the public.

Due to the uncomplicated access to Open Access publications, they are cited more frequently. This increases visibility and impact, which benefits the reputation of researchers and their institutions.

The granting of open licenses (e.g. Creative Commons) gives authors full control over the possible uses of their publications. The further use of the publications by researchers, teachers and readers is thus clearly regulated.

These and other advantages of Open Access, as well as reservations about it, are presented in detail on the open access network information platform.
 

There are two main options for publishing in Open Access: the "golden" and the "green" way.

The first publication of scientific articles in Open Access journals, monographs and anthologies is referred to as gold Open Access. These publications undergo a quality assurance process, usually in the form of a peer review. A free variant of Gold Open Access is known as Diamond Open Access. These are publication media whose operation is secured by institutions or consortia. This makes it possible for no publication fees to be charged for articles^[2].

Green Open Access refers to the subsequent publication of articles that have already appeared in a journal in Open Access. This secondary publication usually takes place in a repository. Whether and under what conditions a secondary publication is possible is governed by the contract between you and the publisher with whom you have published. Often, embargo periods must be observed before such a secondary publication, which prevent the same publication from appearing in several ways at the same time ^[3].

The policies of many publishers on the secondary publication of articles are listed at Sherpa Romeo.

If you have any questions about secondary publications in the THI repository, please contact openaccess@thi.de.
 

The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) lists Open Access journals and articles. Inclusion in the directory is based on a review process that confirms scientific integrity. The DOAJ can therefore serve as a white list of quality-checked journals. However, reliable and high-quality journals may be missing from the directory, as you have to apply for inclusion and provide proof of at least one year of publication activity or at least ten previously published articles. New, small, and independent journals may therefore not (yet) be indexed.

If you are still looking for a suitable Open Access journal for your publication, these tools can be helpful:

With B!SON you can find potentially suitable Open Access journals (excluding hybrid journals with an Open Access option) based on the title, abstract or references of your manuscript. For each journal you will receive information on whether publication costs are incurred and whether they are financed by the library.

The oa.finder of the open access network suggests Open Access journals and provides information on the cost coverage by the institution and the impact of the journals. The hits can be narrowed down thematically using filters.
 

Predatory journals are publication media that solicit publications in order to obtain publication fees. The standards of good scientific practice are not adhered to, as articles are published without a review process.

As articles are also published that do not meet scientific and/or ethical standards, predatory journals cause considerable damage to science and research. Publication in such a publication medium damages the reputation of reputable researchers and the institution to which they belong ^[4].

Since it is not easy to recognize predatory journals, the checklist from Think. Check. Submit. can help with the assessment. Check these points, among others:

• Is the journal listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) or in relevant subject databases and catalogs, e.g. in Scopus, the Electronic Journals Library (EZB) or the Master Journal List of Web of Science?
   
• Is the publisher a member of the organizations Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA) and Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)? Be sure to check on the websites of the organizations, even if membership is mentioned on the journal's or publisher's website.
   
• Are colleagues familiar with the journal, have they already published in it or read articles? What was their experience with the journal?

Please note: even journals that are unknown or not indexed in the above-mentioned directories can be reputable, trustworthy and reliable. This is particularly the case with new, independent journals. If you are unsure how to assess a journal, the library can help you. Write an e-mail to openaccess@thi.de.

Predatory conferences exist in the same way as predatory journals. To check the reliability of a conference, you can use the checklist under Think. Check. Attend. and the conference checker set up there. The TIB Hannover and the RTWH Aachen create a white list of reliable conferences with the ConfIDent service.
 

For Gold Open Access publications, Article Processing Charges (APC) are usually due if the article is to be published. THI can assume a proportion of the costs (see also section "How does the THI Publication Fund cover the costs?") after application via the Publication Fund. APCs can be reduced through agreements between THI and publishers(see also section “With which publishers do Open Access agreements exist?”).

Transformation contracts such as the DEAL contracts with Elsevier, Springer Nature and Wiley include a publication and an access component (publish-and-read agreement). These publication fees are currently paid centrally by THI, so that no further costs are incurred by the authors (see also section “How does cost coverage work with DEAL (Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley)?”).

There are also alternative cost models, such as the "publication flat rate" from PLOS or ACM OPEN. Here, all open access publications by THI members within a certain period of time are covered by a fixed price paid in advance (see also section “With which publishers do Open Access agreements exist?”).

A free version of Gold Open Access is known as Diamond Open Access. These are usually journals whose operation is secured by institutions or consortia. This makes it possible that no publication fees are charged for the articles ^[5].

If publication costs are incurred for your Open Access article, part of the costs can be covered by the Open Access Publication Fund. Prerequisites are that the application is submitted in good time before the article is submitted, that the corresponding author is a THI member and that the journal is reputable, including a recognized review process (usually peer review).

In principle, eligible articles are funded at 70%, 50% or 30%, depending on the Journal Impact FactorTM (JIFTM) or other bibliometric indicators. Based on your assessment in the application, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Großmann, Vice President for Knowledge and Technology Transfer, will check the plausibility of the information.

A detailed description of the funding process can be found in MyTHI.

For THI members who publish their articles Open Access in journals published by Elsevier, Springer Nature and Wiley (DEAL journal lists Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley), the publication costs are currently processed centrally. As with the Publication Fund, the costs are covered on a pro rata basis, so that funds from the Institute or from projects must also be contributed. If your article is published, the library will be notified. The information will then be checked and confirmed if it is correct.

If you want to publish in a journal of these publishers that is not covered by the DEAL contracts, please apply for funding via the Publication Fund. 

Costs are incurred for all articles published in journals covered by DEAL contracts - even if the articles are not published in Open Access. In such cases, the costs cannot be covered centrally.

 

ACM

THI has been participating in ACM Open since 01/01/2024. The list of journals included can be found in MyTHI. Similar to the Publication Fund, the costs for your publications are covered proportionately, so that funds from the Institute or from projects must also be contributed.

PLOS

Publications in all journals of PLOS will be taken over centrally by the library at a fixed price in 2023 and 2024.

MDPI

THI has been participating in the Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP) since 2022. Corresponding Authors who are members of THI receive a discount on the APC.
 

THI supports the OAPEN Foundation, which is dedicated to the dissemination and visualization of Open Access books. It operates the platforms OAPEN Library, OAPEN Open Access Books Toolkit and Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB).

THI also supports the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) as a directory of quality-assured open access journals.
 

In the library catalog for THI members and external users you will also find Open Access literature, from books and journal articles to conference papers. Various sources are available for searching specifically for Open Access publications:

The Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (BASE) allows you to search over 340 million academic web documents, of which around 60% are Open Access. Academic document servers and journals are considered exclusively ^[6].

The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) offers a search for articles from journals that are indexed in the database.

Books are listed on the OAPEN and Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) platforms. Only books that have undergone a quality assurance process are included.

OpenAIRE Explore is an interdisciplinary search engine with a European focus, in which publications, research data and research software can be found.

In OCLC's OAister you will find Open Access literature that is listed in WorldCat.

The tools Unpaywall, Open Access Helper or Open Access Button can be used to check whether open access versions of restricted publications exist.

This and further information can be found in a compilation by Christoph Hornung on iRights.info.
 

If you are looking specifically for Open Access publications in the engineering sciences, you will find what you are looking for on these platforms and databases - in addition to the general sources already mentioned (in section “Where can I find Open Access publications?”):

Congress papers are an important form of publication in the engineering sciences. In some cases, there are special Open Access publishers, platforms and series, including Proceedia CIRP, Atlantis Press, TIB Open Publishing and OpenReview.net. Since several professional societies - e.g. IEEE - that organize congresses and conferences provide good opportunities for secondary publications, Green Open Access is often a way of making one's own congress contributions accessible.

Pre-published articles usually appear on specialist preprint platforms, such as arXiv (including the "Electrical Engineering and Systems Science" community), enerXiv or TechRxiv. Preprints enable research results to be passed on quickly. When receiving them, it should always be borne in mind that they have not yet undergone a peer review process. When publishing on preprint servers, care should be taken to ensure that a Creative Commons license has been granted. If this is not the case, it is necessary to check which options the platforms grant by default or under their own licenses for the use of the contributions.

Engineering publications can also be found in repositories. Subject-specific repositories are offered, for example, by the Specialized Information Service for Mobility and Transport Research (FID Move) and ReNaTe - Repository for Natural Sciences and Technology at TIB Hannover. Institutional repositories such as mediaTUM at TU Munich, DepositOnce at TU Berlin and the THI repository also contain engineering publications. In addition, generic repositories such as Zenodo are important for publications for which no suitable disciplinary solutions are available.

This and further information can be found in a compilation by Peter Molitor and Eric Retzlaff on the information platform open access network.
 

If you are looking specifically for Open Access publications in computer science, you will find them on these platforms and databases - in addition to the general sources already mentioned (in section “Where can I find Open Access publications?”):

Conferences and congresses play an important role in computer science, which is why many books are conference proceedings. Important series published in Open Access include Lecture Notes in Informatics, Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics, Open Access Series in Informatics and the CEUR Workshop Proceedings. Through THI's participation in ACM OPEN, THI members can easily publish contributions to ACM conferences in Open Access (see here in section “With which publishers do Open Access agreements exist?”).

Many Open Access publications are stored on repositories and preprint platforms. These can encompass the discipline as a whole (e.g. Computing Research Repository (CoRR) in arXiv), be specialized in sub-disciplines (e.g. ECCC - Electronic Colloquium on Computational Complexity) or represent interdisciplinary "hyphenated disciplines" (e.g. biorXiv for bioinformatics). Preprints enable the rapid dissemination of research results. It should always be borne in mind that they have not yet undergone a peer review process. When publishing on preprint servers, care should be taken to ensure that a Creative Commons license has been granted. If this is not the case, it is necessary to check which options the platforms grant by default or under their own licenses for the use of the contributions.

This and further information can be found in a compilation by Michael Wagner and Marc Herbstritt on the information platform open access network.
 

If you are looking specifically for open access publications in economics, you will find what you are looking for on these platforms and databases - in addition to the general sources already mentioned (in section “Where can I find Open Access publications?”):

Working or Discussion Papers often appear in Open Access before their peer-reviewed publication in a journal on specialist repositories such as SSRN, EconStor or MPRA and can be found via specialized search engines such as EconBiz and IDEAS.

Journal rankings, e.g. the Journal Weights List and the VHB Publication Media Rating 2024, play an important role in economics. There are no Gold Open Access journals among the journals that are rated as the highest quality. Econometrica, the Journal of Financial Economics and The Quarterly Journal of Economics, for example, offer the option of publishing individual articles in Open Access.  

This and further information can be found in a compilation by Olaf Siegert on the information platform open access network.
 

If you are looking specifically for life science and medical open access publications, you will find what you are looking for on these platforms and databases - in addition to the general sources already mentioned (in section “Where can I find Open Access publications?”):

Another extensive list of journals can be found on PubMed Central. This platform is one of the most comprehensive sources for Open Access literature from the life sciences and medicine with over 8 million journal articles, second-published manuscripts (each peer-reviewed) and preprints.

In addition to PubMed Central as the most important repository in the field of life sciences, there are other disciplinary platforms, e.g. PUBLISSO – Fachrepositorium Lebenswissenschaften and Europe PMC, which provide freely accessible full texts and research data.

Preprint servers such as bioRvix and medRvix are becoming increasingly important for the life sciences. The ASAPbio platform provides an overview of other preprint servers. Preprints enable the rapid dissemination of research results. When receiving them, it should always be borne in mind that they have not yet undergone a peer review process. When publishing on preprint servers, care should be taken to ensure that a Creative Commons license has been granted. If this is not the case, it is necessary to check which options the platforms grant by default or under their own licenses for the use of the contributions.

Electronically enriched publications, such as the ZB MED's Living Handbooks, are playing an increasingly important role.

This and further information can be found in a compilation by Jasmin Schmitz on the information platform open access network.
 

DIRECTORY OF OPEN ACCESS JOURNALS, 2024. Guide to applying [online]. January 2024 [Accessed on: 18/04/2024]. Available at: https://doaj.org/apply/guide/ 

HORNUNG, C., 2023. Search for and find open access specialist literature in a targeted manner: 13 contact points for research [online]. 16/05/2023 [Accessed on: 18/04/2024]. Available at: https://irights-info.translate.goog/artikel/open-access-fachliteratur-finden/31892?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en 

MOLITOR, P. und E. RETZLAFF, 2024. Engineering [online]. 25/03/2024 [Accessed on: 18/04/2024]. Available at: https://open-access.network/en/information/subject-specific-open-access/engineering 

NIEDERSÄCHSISCHE STAATS- UND UNIVERSITÄTSBIBLIOTHEK GÖTTINGEN, 2022. Arguments and Reservations [online]. 11/11/2022 [Accessed on: 18/04/2024]. Available at: https://open-access.network/en/information/open-access-primers/arguments-and-reservations 

NIEDERSÄCHSISCHE STAATS- UND UNIVERSITÄTSBIBLIOTHEK GÖTTINGEN, 2023. Green and Gold [online]. 11/12/2023 [Accessed on: 18/04/2024]. Available at: https://open-access.network/en/information/open-access-primers/green-and-gold 

NIEDERSÄCHSISCHE STAATS- UND UNIVERSITÄTSBIBLIOTHEK GÖTTINGEN, 2023. Open Access Publishing. Predatory Journals. [online]. 01/09/2023 [Accessed on: 18/04/2024]. Available at: https://open-access.network/en/information/publishing/open-access-publishing#c6984 

NIEDERSÄCHSISCHE STAATS- UND UNIVERSITÄTSBIBLIOTHEK GÖTTINGEN, 2023. What does Open Access Mean?. Definition [online]. 12/01/2023 [Accessed on: 18/04/2024]. Available at: https://open-access.network/en/information/open-access-primers/what-does-open-access-mean#c7716 

NIEDERSÄCHSISCHE STAATS- UND UNIVERSITÄTSBIBLIOTHEK GÖTTINGEN, 2024. Business Models for Journals [online]. 19/02/2024 [Accessed on: 18/04/2024]. Available at: https://open-access.network/en/information/financing/business-models-for-journals 

SCHMITZ, J., 2024. Life Sciences [online]. 07/04/2024 [Accessed on: 18/04/2024]. Available at: https://open-access.network/en/information/subject-specific-open-access/life-sciences 

SIEGERT, O., 2022. Economics and Business Studies [online]. 16/10/2022 [Accessed on: 18/04/2024]. Available at: https://open-access.network/en/information/subject-specific-open-access/economics-and-business-studies 

WAGNER, M. und M. HERBSTRITT, 2024. Computer Science [online]. 25/03/2024 [Accessed on: 18/04/2024]. Available at: https://open-access.network/en/information/subject-specific-open-access/computer-science