The importance of  freely available scholarly publications on the internet, also known under the term Open Access, is growing. The three Goportis libraries actively support this movement – not only by developing and maintaining publication platforms in close cooperation with the scientific community, but also by providing expert support on all issues regarding Open Access.

Open Access – what is it all about?
Free availability of academic publications on the internet, also known as Open Access, advances international scholarly communication and research efficiency by eliminating financial, legal and technical barriers. Quality-checked research results, published in a digital format are available more quickly and directly and are therefore more visible and more frequently cited. They can be linked in various ways, supplemented by research data and evaluated and further developed using innovative approaches, especially those of an interdisciplinary nature. Open Access therefore contributes to “a global and interactive representation of human knowledge, including cultural heritage and the guarantee of worldwide access” – as stated in the "Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities". This groundbreaking document for the Open Access movement has been signed by all major research organizations in Germany – among them the Leibniz Association to which the three Goportis libraries belong – committing them to the principle of free access to scientific information. In the context of their areas of responsibility, they work actively to create the framework requirements for the implementation of Open Access in daily scientific routine, for instance by developing and maintaining Open Access-related services and infrastructures and providing support and information at different levels – be it legal, ethical or financial aspects or technical and practical issues concerned with publishing, involving in some cases a different approach for each separate discipline.


Goportis as a “green” and “golden” partner
Consequently, the three Goportis libraries – in their role as national libraries for their specific subjects and as research infrastructures within the Leibniz Association – understand advocating Open Access within their various disciplines as one of their main tasks. They support both the so-called Green Road and the Golden Road to Open Access.

On the "Green Road" to Open Access, research results published conventionally (i.e. in print or as toll-gated online versions) are subsequently made freely accessible. To enable unrestricted access, these publications are in most cases deposited in an institutional or subject-specific publication server, which provide free access, in accordance with legal regulations and often after a certain embargo period. This is where the services of the Goportis libraries come into play: They host repositories, for example ZB MED’s ElliNET for medicine, nutrition, environment and agriculture and the ZBW’s EconStor for economics and business studies. By depositing their papers there, authors can make them reliably available on a long-term basis. Their visibility is significantly enhanced by consistent metadata and integration in search engines such as Google Scholar and disciplinary portals such as EconBiz, GetInfo or MEDPILOT. These repositories are also used from other Leibniz institutions in the same academic disciplines for publishing their research results . Within the framework of the Leibniz Repository, they are combined in a comprehensive overview ensuring maximized availability and visibility for publications by Leibniz scientists.

The "Golden Road" to Open Access means free availability to publications as soon as they appear. This is often realized in the form of publication in genuine Open Access journals, but is also increasingly possible in subscription-based journals, where authors can "buy-out" their publications to make them freely available on the web (e.g. the "Open Choice Model" from Springer)... Papers appearing in Open Access journals pass through the same selection and quality assessment process as publications in traditional subscription-based journals. The main difference lies in the way the costs of the publishing process are paid for. Whereas traditional journals are financed by a distribution model, Golden Open Access publications are in most cases at least partly funded by author fees.


In future, funding distribution will have to reflect this modified cost distribution. With the TIB as its project partner, Goportis is contributing significantly to a pioneer project in this area, SCOAP3. SCOAP3 aims at a shift from subscription funding to publication funding for a number of important journals in the field of particle physics. The Goportis libraries have also been promoting the Golden Road to Open Access for years now by providing practical support to its scientists in founding and publishing Open Access journals. For example, ZB MED hosts the publication portal German Medical Science with 14 journals from the entire field of medicine. ZBW acts as a service provider for the Open Access Journal Economics, which is published by the Kiel Institute for World Economics and features an innovative open peer review concept.

National and international conferences have been and will be organized with the participation of Goportis to foster expert discussion on, and further development of, Open Access, e.g. Berlin 6 in 2008. During International Open Access Week, the Goportis libraries provide local promotion and information on Open Access in talks and other events addressed to students and scientists.

For more information on Open Access, visit the website Informationsplattform Open Access.