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  1. Coffee Lecture: Wie ich meine Paper "befreien" kann - Open Access Zweitveröffentlichungen

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  2. ENABLE! Werkstatt-Gespräch mit dem BMBF-Projekt OZOR - Offener Zugang zu Öffentlichem Recht

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  3. ENABLE!-Werkstatt-Gespräch: Fachrepositorien als OA-Akteure

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  4. Landesinitiative für Forschungsdaten (fdm.nrw): Train-the-Trainer Workshop on RDM

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  5. ORCID DE Online-Seminar: Persistent Identifier in Publikations- und Affiliationsrichtlinien

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  6. Open Access in Educational Sciences
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    What is Open Access? Find an introduction here. Source: based on Brinken, H. (2021). 10 Gründe für Open Access. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4643859 ( CC BY 4.0 International ) Open Access: Pros and Cons Find an introduction here. Open Access and Self-Archiving Find an introduction here. Open Access in the Educational Sciences Although open access as a publishing form is established in educational sciences, it continues to play a somewhat secondary role compared with proprietary publications. Journal articles are the preferred form of publication in educational sciences (Schmidt-Hertha & Müller, 2020), followed by monographs, edited collections, and contributions to edited collections, which together make up around one third of the publication output in this field (Abs et al., 2020). According to the German Education Index ( FIS Bildung ) labelling, as of August 2025, the full-text versions of 42% of the publication output, 32% of the listed journal articles, ca. 58% of the listed monographs and edited collections, and ca. 61% of the listed contributions to edited collections in educational sciences in 2024 were freely available. The German Educational Research Association (GERA/DGfE) , one of the key institutions in educational sciences in the German-speaking area, supports a large number of open access initiatives, but it has not yet adopted a clear position on open access. A further overview of open access developments in the German-language educational sciences is provided in a dissertation by Bambey (2016) and journal articles by Rummler (2021) and Schindler and Rummler (2018) . Open Access Journals As of October 2025, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) listed around 1,980 journals under the subject Education . Important German-language open access journals that are listed in the DOAJ include: bwp@ DOAJ Die Deutsche Schule doaj Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research (FQS) DOAJ Magazin Erwachsenenbildung.at DOAJ MedienPädagogik. Zeitschrift für Theorie und Praxis der Medienbildung DOAJ Zeitschrift für Hochschulentwicklung (ZFHE) DOAJ Zeitschrift für Weiterbildungsforschung DOAJ Important open access journals that are not listed in the DOAJ include: bildungsforschung PhyDid widerstreit-sachunterricht Die Österreichische Volkshochschule (ÖVH) on_education. Journal for Research and Debate Beiträge zur Lehrerinnen- und Lehrerbildung . Contributions up to and including 2013 and contributions from 2014 onwards can be found on peDOCS. Journal for Educational Research Online (JERO) journal für lehrerInnenbildung Erziehungswissenschaft Journals in the educational sciences are often published open access by committed individuals with the help of their institutions and through voluntary effort. For example, the German Youth Institute publishes the magazine IMPULSE . Although, as mentioned earlier, the German Educational Research Association (GERA/DGfE) has not yet adopted a clear position on open access, its journal, Erziehungswissenschaft , is published in diamond open access . In addition, the above-mentioned DOAJ-listed journal MedienPädagogik , which is published by GERA’s Media Education Division, is also diamond open access. In Austria, the Forum Neue Medien in der Lehre Austria publishes the journal Zeitschrift für Hochschulentwicklung in diamond open access. And in Switzerland, the Swiss Society for Research in Education (SSRE) also publishes the quadrilingual journal Swiss Journal of Educational Research in diamond open access. Some journals rely on support from funding agencies or sponsors. For example, the Magazin erwachsenenbildung.at is funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Women, Science and Research (BMFWF ), while the online journal bwp@ is run inter alia through a cooperation with wbv Media and with support from sponsors. What are Open Access Journals Find an introduction here. Practical Tip Publishing Open Access: How to evaluate a journal's quality. Video on the Funding of Open Access Articles Source: Becklas Dorow, C., Hauss, J. (2026). Funding Open Access Articles – What Are the Options?. Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB), open-access.network. https://doi.org/10.5446/73596 ( CC BY 3.0 DE ) open-access.network (2021) ( CC BY 4.0 International ) What are Open Access Books Find an introduction here. open-access.network (2026) ( CC BY 4.0 International ) Open Access Books As of October 2025, the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) listed over 1,600 titles under the subject " Education ", and the OAPEN Library listed over 1.200 titles. Furthermore, peDOCS provides a good overview of series in educational sciences. And the German Education Index (FIS Bildung Literaturdatenbank) indexes open access monographs and contributions to edited collections. A large share of open access books in educational sciences are now published by university presses or institutional repositories (see Schindler & Rummler, 2018). Besides research reports and edited collections, these works include in particular monographic doctoral dissertations and habilitation theses. Although the German Educational Research Association (GERA/DGfE) has not yet adopted a clear position on open access, its divisions and committees publish various books and book series open access: Division 1 – Historical Education Research . Series: Jahrbuch Historische Bildungsforschung (Verlag Julius Klinkhardt) Division 7 – Vocational Education . Series: Jahrbuch der berufs- und wirtschaftspädagogischen Forschung (Verlag Barbara Budrich) Division 9 – Adult Education . Series: Schriftenreihe der Sektion Erwachsenenbildung (Verlag Barbara Budrich) The Gesellschaft für Medien in der Wissenschaft (GMW) published the conference proceedings series Medien in der Wissenschaft in open access with Waxmann Verlag until 2022. Furthermore, various publishers support the publication of open access books in educational sciences. They include Verlag Julius Klinkhardt , Barbara Budrich , Nomos , Beltz Juventa , wbv Media , transcript , Waxmann , and Werner-Hülsbusch-Verlag . Disciplinary Repositories The most important repositories in the educational sciences include: peDOCS : the disciplinary repository of DIPF – Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education for the areas educational research, educational science, and subject didactics. DIPFdocs : DIPF’s institutional repository. texte.online : publications on adult education of the German Institute for Adult Education (DIE) . Scripta Paedagogica Online : digital text archive on the history of education in the German-speaking area (holdings include, inter alia, journals, teacher registers, school programmes). VET Repository : the central repository of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training – BIBB for literature in the area of research on vocational education and training (VET). An overview of relevant repositories is also provided by the Open Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR) . What are Repositories? Find an introduction here. Legal Aspects Find an introduction here. Video über das Zeitveröffentlichungsrecht Quelle: Brehm, E. (2021). Zweitveröffentlichungsrecht für Wissenschaftler*innen, open-access.network. https://doi.org/10.5446/51789 ( CC BY 3.0 DE ) Practical Tip Finding Open Access Literature (in German) Open Access Helpdesk You are welcome to contact our Helpdesk if you have any questions about Open Access. oa.finder The oa.finder shows you from tens of thousands of journals which are Gold Open Access, whether they charge APCs and how high these are. You can also view the funding modalities of your own institution. Other Offerings As a virtual specialised education library, the Education Research Portal is the central point of access for literature searches in (German-language) educational sciences. It is run by the Information Centre for Education (IZB) of DIPF – Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education in Frankfurt am Main. The development of the portal was funded by the German Research Foundation ( DFG ). The offering, which can be used free of charge, is divided into three sections, Literature & References, Research Data in Education, and Research Information: In the Literature & References section, users can conduct searches, report publications that are not yet indexed in the database, publish documents via peDOCS , or avail of the services of the Specialised Information Service for Educational Science and Research . The Research Data in Education section contains comprehensive studies in empirical education research that have been documented for the long term. In addition, there is a central access point to descriptive information about the studies (e.g. survey instruments used, research data collected, information material on research data management) . The Research Information section provides a thematic compilation of relevant Internet sources for and about science and research in the area of education . The Education Research Portal has been online since August 2005. Following a complete overhaul, it was relaunched in September 2017. Open Science in the Educational Sciences In educational sciences, there are also other movements in the area of open science beyond open access. For example, a special issue of the journal Erziehungswissenschaft , Issue 61 (2-2020), entitled: “ Neue Formen der Archivierung, Bereitstellung und Nachnutzung von Forschungsdaten ” [New Forms of Archiving, Providing, and Reusing Research Data], which brought together arguments on open science and open data, sparked a debate within educational sciences on new forms of research and data collection and the requirements that these models involve. The special issue also addressed discernible limitations and reservations, especially regarding data protection and the use of open research data and processes. Nonetheless, open science practices and forms of open access publishing will also change things in educational sciences, as the open handling of research data is supported in principle. The German Educational Research Association (GERA/DGfE), the Society for Empirical Educational Research ( Gesellschaft für Empirische Bildungsforschung, GEBF), and the Gesellschaft für Fachdidaktik (GFD) have published a joint statement with recommendations on the archiving, provision, and reuse of research data in the context of education and subject didactics research. At an international level, as of November 2025, the registry of research data repositories re3data listed 100 open research data portals and repositories under “educational research”. In the German-speaking area, the portal Forschungsdaten Bildung indexes research data via the German Network Educational Research Data (Verbund FDB) and provides information on sharing and managing research data in education research. Engagement with open science and the adaptation of open science to the disciplinary framework conditions and possibilities can increasingly be observed in educational sciences (van Dijk et al., 2021; Krammer & Svecnik, 2020; van der Zee & Reich, 2018). Furthermore, educational sciences are also influenced by the open educational resources (OER) movement. By explicitly calling for open access to education, educational opportunities, and educational materials, this thematic field follows the lead of historical pedagogical precursors (Deimann, 2020; Hug, 2014). In recent years, an increasing number of studies have investigated the innovations in the area of educational and informational practice. These studies emphasise, examine, and critically discuss the new ways of handling materials and infrastructures (Schön & Ebner, 2021; Heck et al., 2020; Deimann, 2020; Heinen et al., 2015). The website OERinfo provides regular German-language news and information on OER as well as a compilation of German-language OER directories and platforms (e.g. the OER-Repositorium Baden-Württemberg and twillo ) . These directories and platforms cover both the areas of school and adult education and the area of higher education. In Austria, an OER certificate ( OER-Zertifikat.at) has been introduced for higher education teachers and institutions (Schön et al., 2 023). open-access.network (2021) ( CC BY 4.0 International ) References Abs, H. J., Kuper, H., Cathleen, G., Ludwig, K., Hüfner, K., Radhoff, M., Ruberg, C., Kerst, C., Wolter, A., Gerecht, M., Krüger, H.-H., Sauerwein, M., Schultheiß, J., Schmidt-Hertha, B., Müller, M., Martini, R., & Stelter, A. (2020). Datenreport Erziehungswissenschaft 2020. Erstellt im Auftrag der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Erziehungswissenschaft (DGfE). Verlag Barbara Budrich. https://doi.org/10.25656/01:18987 Bambey, D. (2016). Fachliche Publikationskulturen und Open Access. Fächerübergreifende Entwicklungstendenzen und Spezifika der Erziehungswissenschaft und Bildungsforschung . https://doi.org/10.25656/01:12331 Deimann, M. (2020). Lernen mit Open Educational Resources. In H. M. Niegemann & A. Weinberger (Eds.), Handbuch Bildungstechnologie. Konzeption und Einsatz digitaler Lernumgebungen (pp. 699–708). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-54368-9_58 Heck, T., Kullmann, S., Hiebl, J., Schröder, N., Otto, D., & Sander, P. (2020). Designing Open Informational Ecosystems on the Concept of Open Educational Resources. Open Education Studies , 2 (1), 252–264. https://doi.org/10.1515/edu-2020-0130 Heinen, R., Kerres, M., & Schindler, C. (2015). Provisioning strong and weak OER: Requirements of open informational ecosystems. Proceedings of Open Education Global 2015 . https://doi.org/10.25656/01:18242 Hug, T. (2014). Bildung für alle – eine Neuauflage? Offenheit und Teilen in der Open Educational Resources (OER) Bewegung. In P. Missomelius (Ed.), Freie Bildungsmedien und digitale Archive. Medien - Wissen - Bildung (pp. 227–256). Innsbruck University Press. https://www.fachportal-paedagogik.de/literatur/vollanzeige.html?FId=1055764 Krammer, G., & Svecnik, E. (2020). Open Science als Beitrag zur Qualität in der Bildungsforschung. Zeitschrift für Bildungsforschung , 10 , 263–278. https://doi.org/10.1007/s35834-020-00286-z Rummler, K. (2021). Open Access Zeitschriften in den Bildungs- und Erziehungswissenschaften. Ausgewählte Aspekte zum Betrieb wissenschaftlicher Fachzeitschriften. Schweizerische Zeitschrift Für Bildungswissenschaften , 43 (1), 116–128. https://doi.org/10.24452/sjer.43.1.9 Schindler, C., & Rummler, K. (2018). Open Access in der Publikationslandschaft der Erziehungswissenschaft. Eine Sondierung mit Blick auf Monographien und Sammelwerke. Erziehungswissenschaft , 57 (29), 9–18. https://doi.org/10.3224/ezw.v29i2.02 Schmidt-Hertha, B., & Müller, M. (2020). Forschung und Publikationskulturen. In J. Abs, H. Kuper, & R. Martini (Eds.), Datenreport Erziehungswissenschaft 2020 . Verlag Barbara Budrich. https://doi.org/10.3224/84742419 Schön, S., & Ebner, M. (2021). Digital gestütztes Lernen in der Erwachsenenbildung - wo liegt die Innovation? In Egger, R. & Härtel, P. (Eds.), Bildung für alle? Für ein offenes und chancengerechtes, effizientes und kooperatives System des lebenslangen Lernens in Österreich (pp. 231–252). Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-31054-7_12 Schön, S., Ebner, M., Berger, E., Brandhofer, G., Edelsbrunner, S., Gröblinger, O., Hackl, C., Jadin, T., Kopp, M., Neuböck, K., Proinger, J., Schmölz, A. & Steinbacher, H.P. (2023). Development of an Austrian OER certification for higher education institutions and their employees. In D. Otto, G. Scharnberg, M. Kerres, & O. Zawacki-Richter (Eds.), Distributet learning ecosystems. Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38703-7_9 van der Zee, T., & Reich, J. (2018). Open Education Science. AERA Open , 4 (3). https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858418787466 van Dijk, W., Schratschneider, C., & Hart, S. A. (2021). Open Science in Education Sciences. Journal of Learning Disabilities , 54 (2), 139–152. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022219420945267 Further Reading Mruck, K., Mey, G., Schön, S., Idensen, H., & Purgathofer, P. (2013). Offene Lehr- und Forschungsressourcen. Open Access und Open Educational Resources. In M. Ebner & S. Schön (Eds.), L3T. Lehrbuch für Lernen und Lehren mit Technologien (2. Auflage). https://doi.org/10.25656/01:8356 Schaffert, S. (2004). Kostenlose Online-Literatur der Bildungsforschung. P@psych E-Zine , 9 . https://www.stangl-taller.at/paedpsych/ezine/2004/schaffert04/ Content editors of this page: Dr Klaus Rummler, Zurich University of Teacher Education , Dr Christoph Schindler, Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education , and Dr Sandra Schön, Graz University of Technology (Last updated: November 2025)....

  7. Open Access in Gender Studies
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    What is Open Access? Find an introduction here. Source: based on Brinken, H. (2021). 10 Gründe für Open Access. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4643859 ( CC BY 4.0 International ) Open Access: Pros and Cons Find arguments and reservations here. Open Access Publishing and Self-Archiving Find out about how to publish and self-archive Open Access. Video on the Funding of Open Access Articles Source: Becklas Dorow, C., Hauss, J. (2026). Funding Open Access Articles – What Are the Options?. Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB), open-access.network. https://doi.org/10.5446/73596 ( CC BY 3.0 DE ) Open Access in Gender Studies Gender studies is a field of knowledge that is strongly characterised by inter- or transdisciplinary work methods and in which a variety of disciplinary approaches can be found. In many cases, the publishing practices and venues of gender researchers depend on the specialist disciplines involved and are correspondingly heterogeneous. However, there are also several publications with a decidedly inter- or transdisciplinary focus. For the most part, gender researchers publish their works in journals, edited volumes, and monographs. In addition, handbooks, science blogs, and various other transfer formats are widespread. Preprints , by contrast, play hardly any role at all. Opportunities for Gender Studies Open access publishing offers enormous opportunities, especially for gender studies. Because of political reservations with regard to gender studies, and the ambiguous location of the field between the disciplines, its results are subjected to reception barriers. The potentially greater visibility and the direct access to full texts enables open access publications to overcome these barriers and thus demonstrate their quality. The opportunities offered by electronic publishing, and especially by open access , are now widely acknowledged in gender studies. There are now several open access publications In German-language gender studies, in particular journals and science blogs. There has also been a gradual increase in the number of publications in the area of open access books . Internationally, two developments can be distinguished: On the one hand, relevant, mainly English-language publications on gender studies are being published with large commercial publishers, which, to date, unfortunately offer only hybrid open access options against payment of publication charges . On the other hand, there are a growing number of open access publications in the non-English-speaking world that use no-fee and scholar-led open access models, thereby making an important contribution to bibliodiversity . Activities of the German Gender Studies Association The German Gender Studies Association (Fachgesellschaft Geschlechterstu­dien) actively supports open access publishing. As one of the four editors of the Open Gender Journal , and as the provider of the Open Gender Platform , the association has anchored open access as an important field of activity in its task spectrum. In addition, within the association, the working group Open Digital Gender connects existing initiatives and engages with current developments in the areas of open access and open science. Open Access Journals As of August 2024, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) listed 159 entries under the keyword gender . Only 34 of the journals listed in the DOAJ levy article processing charges ( APCs ). In Germany, the following open access journals and working paper series are published in the area of gender studies: Open Gender Journal DOAJ querelles-net (since 2020 a section of the Open Gender Journal) GENDER FORUM – An Internet Journal for Gender Studies DOAJ IZGOnZeit gender[ed]thoughts FKW // Zeitschrift für Geschlechterforschung und visuelle Kultur Since 2020, the review journal querelles-net , one of the pioneers of the open access movement in German-speaking gender studies, has been integrated as a section in the Open Gender Journal . The aforementioned journals are not only accessible free of charge, they also fulfil the requirements for open access publications by using open licences . What are Open Access Journals? Find an introduction here. Practical Tip Publishing Open Access: How to evaluate a journal's quality open-access.network (2026) ( CC BY 4.0 International ) Open Access Handbooks The handbook “Politik und Geschlecht” [Politics and Gender] (edited by Christine M. Klapeer, Johanna Leinius, Franziska Martinsen, Heike Mauer, and Inga Nüthen), the first edition of which was published in 2017, is an open access introductory work to gender studies that is continuously supplemented and updated. This “living encyclopaedia” was created within the framework of the BMBF-funded project OAPEnz as a collaboration between ZB MED – Information Centre for Life Sciences and the publisher Barbara Budrich . Open Access Science Blogs In addition to classical scholarly journals, there are also several open access gender studies science blogs. The posts in the blog interdisziplinäre geschlechterforschung , an interdisciplinary gender studies blog published by the Koordinations- und Forschungsstelle Netzwerk Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung NRW ( Coordination and Research Office of the Women’s and Gender Research Network of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia ), are preserved long-term in the repository of the Library of the University of Duisburg-Essen . The Genderblog of the Center for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin focuses on the publication of findings, projects, and debates from gender studies research and teaching at the university. Open Educational Resources In the area of Open Educational Resources (OER), the OER “ Was ist Gender? ” [What is gender?] provides an introduction to the topic. The portal Gendering MINT digital makes reusable teaching modules from the area of research and teaching “Gender & STEM” available as OER. The Toolbox Gender und Diversity in der Lehre offers materials for designing discrimination-critical university teaching. All offerings are available under an open licence. What are Repositories? Find an introduction here. Legal Aspects Find legal information on Open Access here. Video über das Zeitveröffentlichungsrecht Quelle: Brehm, E. (2021). Zweitveröffentlichungsrecht für Wissenschaftler*innen, open-access.network. https://doi.org/10.5446/51789 ( CC BY 3.0 DE ) Disciplinary Repositories With GenderOpen , which was established in 2018, gender studies has a disciplinary open access repository that ensures the long-term availability of publications under open access conditions. The repository also informs authors about their rights in the areas of self-archiving and the secondary publication right ( Zweitveröffentlichungsrecht ), thereby creating an awareness of the possibilities granted to them under German copyright law. In many cases, targeted collaborations with relevant scholarly publishers enable the self-archiving of the original publisher’s version and the corresponding metadata after expiry of an embargo period . Furthermore, there are collaborations between the GenderOpen repository and the publishers Barbara Budrich and De Gruyter , on the basis of which the original publisher’s version of electronic full texts of articles from certain journals and the corresponding metadata may be made freely available after the expiry of an embargo period. Authors have the possibility of deciding at the time of publication that their contributions are to be made available under a Creative Commons (CC) licence after this embargo period. GenderOpen then releases the contributions automatically. This applies to the following journals: FZG – Freiburger Zeitschrift für GeschlechterStudien (embargo: 24 months) FEMINA POLITICA – Zeitschrift für feministische Politikwissenschaft (embargo: 36 months) Feministische Studien (embargo: 24 months) The GenderOpen keyword index, Schlagwortindex GenderOpen , is a controlled vocabulary for the substantive description of gender studies publications. Developed within the framework of GenderOpen, it is also used by several journals, the Digital German Women’s Archive ( Digitales Deutsches Frauenarchiv , DDF), and the Gutachter*innen-Datenbank , a reviewers database. In 2019, GenderOpen received the DINI Certificate for Open Access Publication Services. An overview of relevant repositories is also provided by the Open Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR) . The online archives JSTOR and Project MUSE now also provide open access content relevant to gender studies. Other Offerings Open access in German-language gender studies has been decisively advanced by individual projects. A groundbreaking role in this regard was played by the project Geschlechterforschung und Open Access. Ein Publikationsmodell für ein inter-/transdisziplinäres Forschungsfeld (Gender Studies and Open Access. A Publication Model for an Inter-/Transdisciplinary Research Field), which was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and conducted at the Freie Universität Berlin (2011–2012). The project analysed the opportunities and challenges for open access publications in gender studies and showed that all the necessary technical and legal possibilities for implementing quality-assured open access publications exist. However, open access publications and electro­nic publication processes entail additional challenges, for example, clear divisi­ons of roles, clarification of rights, and adaptation to transdisciplinary and cross-national standards. Another open access offering is the Open Gender Platform , which was deve­loped and built at the Freie Universität Berlin‘s Margherita von Brentano Center within the framework of a project (June 2018–September 2020) funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The project developed sustainable approaches for editorial workflows, business models, and quality assurance procedures and made them available to the entire field of gender studies for reuse. Deliverables included a reviewers database ( Gutachter*­innen-Datenbank ) – that is, a directory of experts who have declared their willingness to act as reviewers for open access journals and books in Germany. Furthermore, there are collaborations between the GenderOpen repository and the publishers Barbara Budrich and De Gruyter , on the basis of which the origi­nal publisher’s version of electronic full texts of articles from certain journals and the corresponding metadata may be made freely available after the expiry of an embargo period. Authors have the possibility of deciding at the time of publication that their contributions are to be made available under a Creative Commons (CC) licence after this embargo period. GenderOpen then releases the contributions automatically. This applies to the following journals: GENDER – Journal for Gender, Culture and Society (24-month embargo) FZG – Freiburger Zeitschrift für GeschlchterStudien (24-month embargo) FEMINA POLITICA – Zeitschrift für feministische Politikwissenschaft (36-month embargo) Feministische Studien (24-month embargo) The online archives JSTOR and Project MUSE now also provide open access content relevant to gender studies. Practical Tip Open-Access-Literatur finden Open Access Helpdesk You are welcome to contact our Helpdesk of you have any questions about Open Access. oa.finder The oa.finder shows you from tens of thousands of journals which are Gold Open Access, whether they charge APCs and how high these are. You can also view the funding modalities of your own institution. open-access.network ( CC BY 4.0 International ) Open Science in Gender Studies The topic of open research data is being taken up only hesitantly in gender stu­dies. According to a needs analysis on research data infrastructure in gender studies , only a few researchers have experience of the reuse of research data. The difficulties in disciplinarily classifying gender studies repeat themselves also in relation to open research data. To date, there are no explicitly designated re­search repositories for gender studies. Even when metadata have been properly recorded, a search always requires the use of various search strategies with different storage locations, keywords, and disciplines. However, whether an independent storage location for open research data is called for in an inter- and transdisciplinary field such as gender studies, in which researchers work with diverse types of data, has not yet been conclusively settled. Content editor of this page: Kathrin Ganz , Special Information Service Gender Studies (FID Gender) (Last updated: August 2024)....

  8. Open Access in Information Science
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    What is Open Access? Find an introduction here. Source: based on Brinken, H. (2021). 10 Gründe für Open Access. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4643859 ( CC BY 4.0 International ) Open Access in Information Science Information science can generally be considered quite a small discipline in the German-speaking area. The Hochschulverband Informationswissenschaft (Higher Education Association for Information Science, HI) lists only 19 higher education institutions (HEIs) at which the subject is taught. Most of these HEIs are universities of applied sciences. The German-language publishing landscape in information science is thus modest in size. Although open access is considered an object of research in information science, it has not dominated publishing practice in the discipline to date. In January 2022, the HI published its Open Science Guideline , which calls for open access to texts, data, software, and methods. This was preceded by the discussion of a first draft of the guideline by members of the HI in autumn 2021. The HI signed the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities on 15 November 2021. Open Access Journals Journals of information science in the German-speaking area, for example Information – Wissenschaft & Praxis , the journal of the German Society for Information and Knowledge (DGI), are published in closed access . This is also true of journals further afield, for example Aslib Proceedings , the journal of the Association for Information Management (ASLIB), all journals of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (asis&t), and the Journal of Information Science . As of December 2024, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) listed 1,075 indexed journals under “ information science “ and 205 entries under the related search term “ library science “. With the spread of diamond open access journals, the subscribe-to-open model , and transformative agreements , the number of open access articles in information science has been increasing in recent years. Open access journals of relevance to information science include: Bibliothek Forschung und Praxis Big Data & Society College and Research Libraries Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics Information Research: An International Electronic Journal Information Journal of the Medical Library Association Library and Information Research Libreas: Library Ideas o-bib. Das offene Bibliotheksjournal Scientific Data Quantitative Science Studies What are Open Access Journals? Find an introduction here. Practical Tip Publishing Open Access: How to evaluate a journal's quality Video on the Funding of Open Access Articles Source: Becklas Dorow, C., Hauss, J. (2026). Funding Open Access Articles – What Are the Options?. Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB), open-access.network. https://doi.org/10.5446/73596 ( CC BY 3.0 DE ) What are Open Access Books? Find an introduction here. open-access.network (2026) ( CC BY 4.0 International ) Open Access Books As of December 2024, the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) listed 79 titles under the subject “ library & information sciences ”, while the online library OAPEN listed 75 titles under “ library & information sciences ”. The proceedings of the International Symposium of Information Science (ISI), which is organised by the HI, are published in open access; the contributions can be found on the HI website . Disciplinary Repositories Important disciplinary repositories include E-LIS ( eprints in library & information science ) and arXiv, in whose category "Digital Libraries" many information science research publications can be found. As in many other disciplines, Zenodo is also increasingly being used in library and information science (LIS). In the German-speaking information science community, publications are often also self-archived and made available in the institutional open access repositories of the institutions at which researchers are working on the topic. What are Repositories? Find an introduction here. Legal Aspects Find an introduction here. Practical Tip Finding Open Access Literature (in German) Open Access Helpdesk You are welcome to contact our Helpdesk if you have any questions about Open Access. oa.finder The oa.finder shows you from tens of thousands of journals which are Gold Open Access, whether they charge APCs and how high these are. You can also view the funding modalities of your own institution. Other Offerings On the left-hand side you can find helpful services and tools to inform yourself about specific questions on Open Access. Literatur Further Reading Asef, E. (2021). Analyse von Open Access Publikationen in der Bibliotheks- und Informationswissenschaft 2003 bis 2016. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. https://doi.org/10.18452/2302 Chen, M., & Du, Y. (2016). The status of open access library and information science journals in SSCI. The Electronic Library , 34 (5), 722–739. https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-05-2015-0070 Sahoo, J., Birtia, T., & Mohanty, B. (2017). Open access journals in library and information science: A study on DOAJ. International Journal of Information Dissemination and Technology , 7 (2), 116. https://doi.org/10.5958/2249-5576.2017.00008.5 Way, D. (2010). The open access availability of library and information science literature. College & Research Libraries , 71 (4), 302–309. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl-38r1 Content editor of this page: Ulrich Herb, Saarland University and State Library (Last updated: January 2022)...

  9. Open Access in Law
    last modified at:

    What is Open Access? Find an introduction here. Source: based on Brinken, H. (2021). 10 Gründe für Open Access. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4643859 ( CC BY 4.0 International ) Open Access: Pros and Cons Find arguments and reservations here. Open Access Publishing and Self-Archiving Find an introduction here. Perception of Open Access Survey on requirements and obstacles in the legal sciences. Open Access in Legal Scholarship The field of legal scholarship was comparatively late in recognising the relevance of open access for its own scientific practice. Admittedly, since the turn of the century, legal scholars have addressed the legal parameters of open access ( Spindler, 2006 ) and have examined in dissertations the significance of copyright’s exclusionary power for the supply of scientific information ( Krujatz, 2012 ) and in journal articles the backdoor to more open access offered by copyright law ( Radtke, 2022 ). There are even journals, such as RuZ – Recht und Zugang , that are specifically dedicated to legal issues relating to access to cultural heritage. And between 2015 and 2024, open access was the subject of legislation in six German federal states. However, when it comes to their own publishing practices, many legal scholars react to the topic of open access with a questioning look or a shrug of the shoulders. Others even reject it outright, which can lead to years of legal disputes . There are a variety of reasons for this – at least eight theses against open access in legal scholarship , which have since been called into question, are frequently advanced ( Hamann & Hürlimann, 2019 ). Open access is increasingly mandated by funders of legal science research and by universities (“top down”). In recent years, however, jurOA-Netzwerk , an informal network of legal scholars and librarians in the German-speaking area, has been working to promote open access in legal scholarship (“bottom up”). This network operates a mailing list that reports news on open access in legal scholarship. Since 2016, it has organised biennial conferences –the fifth of which took place in 2024 – that are documented on www.jurOA.de . By contrast, the established professional societies in the field of legal scholarship have so far been reluctant to participate in the open access debate. In its Criteria for the Assessment of Scholarly Performance in the Field of Private Law, the German Association of Teachers of Private Law (Zivilrechtslehrervereinigung) defines “successful reception” as a performance criterion and designates the publication venue as an indicator for scientific quality. However, this does not appear to be linked to any statements regarding the accessibility or reusability of publications. In the guidelines for good scientific practice issued by the German Association of Teachers of Private Law (Zivilrechtslehrervereinigung) and the German Association of Teachers of Public Law (Vereinigung der deutschen Staatsrechtsrechtslehrer) , there is no mention of open access. The Swiss Association of Jurists (Schweizerischer Juristenverein) has been pressured by the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences guidelines for granting financial contributions to publications to take small steps in the direction of open access. Journals As of October 2024, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) listed 860 entries under “Law “. However, this number is exaggerated, as the disciplinary assignment of journals in DOAJ is often misleading, and, on the other hand, many online law journals – both from the German-speaking area (Hamann, 2016, para 24) and the USA (Severin et al., 2020, p.16) – are not indexed. Specifically, a study conducted in 2019 found that, as of 1 August of that year, three of the 11 law journals from the German-speaking area indexed in DOAJ were assigned to the wrong subject or geographical area, while a further 39 online law journals were not included at all ( Hamann, 2019, p. 87, Footnote 11, pp. 90–92 ). Journals are indexed in DOAJ on application only . The application procedure is very laborious, and even professional publishers – and especially many smaller (scholar-led) journals – are unable to meet all the criteria for inclusion. Of the law journals from the German-speaking area (DE/AT/CH/LI) that are indexed in DOAJ, only one – the International Journal of Language & Law – is also a member of the Free Journal Network of even more critically curated platinum open access journals. In the case of other journals, membership is often precluded because FJN requires that member journals include a title and abstract in English for each published article. The most established law journals from the German-speaking area that are indexed in DOAJ include: German Law Journal (since 2000, now published in the UK) Rechtsgeschichte – Legal History (online since 2002) Ancilla Iuris: Lagen des Rechts (since 2006) Göttingen Journal of International Law (since 2009) International Journal of Language & Law (since 2012) Recht in Afrika / Law in Africa / Droit en Afrique (online since 2014) sui-generis (since 2014) In addition, as of 31.12.2022, there were a further 10 open access law journals from the German-speaking area ( Hamann, 2023 , p. 416). This number increased by two in 2024, when the renowned journals RabelsZ ( The Rabel Journal of Comparative and International Private Law ) and ZGE ( Intellectual Property Journal ) were converted to open access within the framework of a pioneering subscribe-to-open (S2O) project at Mohr Siebeck . The further spread of this funding model, which was established only in 2017, means that further conversions of journals to open access can be expected. Besides genuinely open access journals, whose articles are published under an open licence (such as a Creative Commons CC BY or CC BY-SA licence), there are numerous online law journals that (a) distribute their content primarily on the Internet (i.e. in parallel with the print version) rather than just secondarily (i.e. some time after publication of the primary print version), and (b) make the full-text versions of their articles freely accessible, that is, accessible without special access data (Hamann 2019, p. 88). In Figure 1, each online law journal in the German-speaking area that existed as of 2022 is represented by a coloured square. Three groups can be distinguished: 16 genuinely open access journals, that is, journals whose articles were published under an open licence (top left, in orange, framed in red); 15 journals with more legally restrictive licences (top right, in grey); and 28 journals with traditional rights distribution (“free to read”, bottom half of the figure, in green). Figure 1. Licensing models of the online law journals in the German-speaking area as of 2022. Source (including explanation of the individual abbreviations): Hamann, 2023 : 418; CC BY 4.0 International . In addition to journals explicitly published under a Creative Commons (CC) or Digital Peer Publishing (DPP) licence, some of these journals describe themselves simply as open access (“OA”), whereas others either do not supply any information about the distribution of rights (“…”) or invoke the statutory distribution of rights (“UrhG” [German Copyright Act], in some cases using the © symbol). Figure 2. Year of establishment and country of origin of 47 online law journals from Germany (DE), Switzerland (CH), Austria (AU), and Liechtenstein (LI). Source: Hamann, 2019 : 94; CC BY 4.0 International As of 01.10.2024, the Zenodo collection “Daten zum Open Access in der deutschsprachigen Rechtswissenschaft” [Data on Open Access in German-Language Legal Scholarship], the most current list of online law journals in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Lichtenstein, comprised a list of the 71 journals (incl. seven that have ceased publication). The oldest journals have been online since 1996; the years 2013/14 saw a particularly strong wave of start-ups (see Figure 2). Because the start-ups are offset by journals that ceased publication, it is possible to determine how many online journals were in existence each year since 1996. As can be seen in Figure 3, the development curve rose steeply up to 2022. However, it also flattened in the last years of that period, and it is unclear whether this indicates a trend. Figure 3. Number of online law journals in the German-speaking area in the period 1996–2022. Source: Hamann, 2023 : 417; CC BY 4.0 International Outside the German-speaking area, the law reviews published by university presses in the United States, which are usually freely available online, constitute a flourishing eco-system of open access scholarly texts. The origins of these law reviews go back a long way – for example, to the popular repository infrastructure of the Berkeley Electronic Press (Bepress). Many of the student-edited journals in this eco-system still do not use any open access licences and can therefore be classified as gratis open access rather than libre open access . What are Open Access Journals? Find an introduction here. Practical Tip Publishing Open Access: How to evaluate a journal's quality Video on the Funding of Open Access Articles Source: Becklas Dorow, C., Hauss, J. (2026). Funding Open Access Articles – What Are the Options?. Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB), open-access.network. https://doi.org/10.5446/73596 ( CC BY 3.0 DE ) open-access.network (2026) ( CC BY 4.0 International ) Open Access Helpdesk You are welcome to contact our Helpdesk of you have any questions about Open Access. Practical Tip Finding Open Access Literature (in German) oa.finder The oa.finder shows you from tens of thousands of journals which are Gold Open Access, whether they charge APCs and how high these are. You can also view the funding modalities of your own institution. Academic Blogs In addition to scholarly journals, academic blogs increasingly also serve as serious forums for legal scholarship. Apart from the personal blogs of individual pioneers such as Ulrich Noack (“ Unternehmensrechtliche Notizen ” 2003–2022), multi-author blogs in particular have become established, whose content is made available mostly under different variants of CC licenses. Important examples include: Rechtswirklichkeit – the blog of the Berliner Arbeitskreis Rechtswirklichkeit (ISSN 2366-3022), since 2000 Umweltrechtsblog – the blog of the Verein zur Förderung von Information für die breite Öffentlichkeit im Umweltrecht, since 2007 Verfassungsblog – On Matters Constitutional (ISSN 2366-7044), since 2009 HHR – Humanitarianism & Human Rights (ISSN 2199-0859), since 2013 JuWissBlog – the blog of the association Junge Wissenschaft im Öffentlichen Recht (ISSN 2567-2754), since 2013 Völkerrechtsblog – the blog of the Arbeitskreis junger Völkerrechtswissenschaftler (ISSN 2510-2567), since 2014 D’Kart – an antitrust blog of the Institute for Antitrust Law (IKartR) of the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, since 2017 Rechts|Empirie – Legal Empirics in Europe, since 2019 These blogs are used not only for science communication but increasingly also as platforms for the primary publication of short contributions with highly topical content and at the same time high academic standards. Open Educational Resources (OER) Open access in the area of legal monographs is currently experiencing its greatest upswing in the context of open educational resources (OER) (see Chiofalo & Milas, 2023). In 2017, Deutsche Straftheorie , a textbook on German criminal theory, was published in open access via Refubium, the repository of Freie Universität Berlin. And in 2018, the first OER textbook on Swiss law, entitled Introduction to Swiss Law , was published by Carl Grossman Verlag. Since then, great progress in the dissemination and acceptance of OER has been made primarily by didactic projects in the area of public law. Particularly noteworthy here are (a) the collaboratively produced textbooks of the association for legal scholarship OpenRewi on numerous topics such as administrative law, constitutional law, state organisation law, fundamental rights, asylum law, international law, and freedom of information law; and (b) Smartbook Grundrechte , a hybrid textbook with 67 instructional videos, which is co-authored by Emanuel V. Towfigh, professor of public law at EBS Law School, and Alexander Gleixner and was published in 2022 by Nomos Verlag. Monographs The Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) and the OAPEN Library list law books in various subject classifications, which cannot be searched collectively. These include (as of April 2024 for DOAB and as of October 2024 for OAPEN): law (2,582 titles in the DOAB , 1,416 titles in OAPEN ) jurisprudence (235 titles in the DOAB , 229 in OAPEN ) legal (263 titles in the DOAB , 218 in OAPEN ) courts (3 titles in the DOAB , 19 in OAPEN ) Thus, across these categories, the two databases together list almost 5,000 legal books (multiple counts and overlooked categories cannot be ruled out). Because of the disparate categorisation, a more exact breakdown by publisher, year of publication, etc. would require a more in-depth empirical study. The pioneers of open access monographs in the field of legal scholarship were not the established scholarly publishers but rather private individuals and societal initiatives. They include, for example, the Mannheim solicitor Thomas Fuchs, whose essays and volumes are published on DeLegibus.com (since 1998); the online portal jurawelt.com with the law series TENEA (115 monographs 2002–2008); and Mark Schweizer, who self-published his dissertation online in 2005 (he later went on to become president of the Swiss Federal Patent Court). The first dedicated open access law publishers – at least in the German-speaking area – were probably Carl Grossmann Verlag in Germany (since 2016) and sui generis Verlag in Switzerland (since 2019). In 2024, Carl Grossmann Verlag published what was likely the first open access commentary in German jurisprudence ( Boehm et al., 2024 ), and between 2018 and October 2024, sui generis Verlag published 55 monographs . The Verein für Recht und Digitalisierung e.V. (VRD) has been promoting open access since 2021, with two dedicated open access series under the brand digital|recht ( Jüngels, 2023 ) – namely the “Schriften zum Immaterialgüter-, IT-, Medien-, Daten- und Wettbewerbsrecht” ( 20 volumes as of October 2024) and “Staat und digitale Gesellschaft” ( 6 volumes as of October 2024). After the open access model was also discovered by established publishing houses, the university press Universitätsverlag Göttingen was one of the earliest and most committed publishers with a legal publishing programme. Another was Nomos-Verlag in Baden-Baden; as of October 2024, the Nomos eLibrary listed 275 open access books. More conservative publishers also have open access monographs in their portfolios. They include, for example, Mohr Siebeck, with 204 titles , and Duncker & Humblot, with 74 titles (as of October 2024). Verlag C. H. Beck, the dominant publisher of German-language law books, has so far limited itself to making a digital version of the renowned print commentary “ Grundgesetz für jeden ” (Basic Law for Everyone) freely available online in 2024 – albeit not under an open licence. What are Open Access Books? Find an introduction here. open-access.network (2026) ( CC BY 4.0 International ) open-access.network ( CC BY 4.0 International ) Disciplin­ary Reposi­tories Disciplinary repositories have played a limited role in the field of legal scholarship to date. The few law repositories in existence include: 2 Dok (pronounced "Inter-Zwei-Dok"): This open access law repository of the Specialised Information Service for International and Interdisciplinary Legal Research (Fachinformationsdienst für internationale und interdisziplinäre Rechtsforschung) at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin is open to all legal scholars. Besides scholarly publications and research data , it also archives blog posts . SSOAR (Social Science Open Access Repository) : This full-text server maintained and operated by GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences serves five “communities”, including Jurisprudence and Administrative Sciences with over 3,000 archived documents (as of October 2024). LawArXiv : Established with the intention of creating an open access community for legal scholarship, this preprint repository was closed after accepting 1,390 documents. It no longer accepts new submissions, and the number of archived documents has since shrunk to 160. Fachrepositorium zum Schweizer Recht [Disciplinary repository on Swiss law]: Run by a non-profit association in Switzerland and supported by the Faculty of Law at the University of Zurich, Repositorium.ch offers free accessibility, a semantic search functionality, and an open API. However, it does not disclose the number of archived media. Because disciplinary repositories of legal scholarship are few and far between, general repositories such as Zenodo are often used for legal research data and publications. The Open Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR) provides an overview of relevant repositories. What are Repositories? Find an introduction here. Legal Aspects Find an introduction here. Video über das Zeitveröffentlichungsrecht Quelle: Brehm, E. (2021). Zweitveröffentlichungsrecht für Wissenschaftler*innen, open-access.network. https://doi.org/10.5446/51789 ( CC BY 3.0 DE ) References Boehm, F., Euler, E., Klimpel, P., Rack, F., & Weitzmann, J. (2024). Creative Commons Public License (CCPL) – Kommentar und Handbuch für die Rechtspraxis . Carl Grossmann Verlag. https://openrewi.org/creative-commons-public-license-ccpl Chiofalo, V., Milas M. (2023). Die geschlossene Gesellschaft der Rechtswissenschaft: Chancen und Grenzen von Open Educational Resources, ZDRW – Zeitschrift für Didaktik der Rechtswissenschaft 10 , 168–187. https://doi.org/10.5771/2196-7261-2023-2 Hamann, H. (2016). Freier Zugang zur juristischen Fachliteratur im Spiegel der Open-Science-Bewegung. sui generis – die juristische Open-Access-Zeitschrift , 96–104. https://doi.org/10.21257/sg.28 Hamann, H. (2019). Lizenzmodelle juristischer Internetzeitschriften: Zur vernachlässigten normativen Dimension des "Open Access". Sonderheft der RW – Zeitschrift für rechtswissenschaftliche Forschung , 85–111. https://doi.org/10.5771/9783748903659-91 Hamann, H. (2023). Urheberrecht als Ermöglichungsinfrastruktur für Open-Access-Publikationen? ZUM – Zeitschrift für Urheber- und Medienrecht 67 , 410–419. https://hanjo.1hamann.de/research/zum2023-410.pdf Hamann, H., & Hürlimann, D. (2019). Open Access bei der Veröffentlichung rechtswissenschaftlicher Fachliteratur – was soll das? Sonderheft der RW – Zeitschrift für rechtswissenschaftliche Forschung, 3–30. https://doi.org/10.5771/9783748903659-9 Krujatz, S. (2012). Open Access. Der offene Zugang zu wissenschaftlichen Informationen und die ökonomische Bedeutung urheberrechtlicher Ausschlussmacht für die wissenschaftliche Informationsversorgung . Mohr Siebeck. https://www.mohrsiebeck.com/buch/open-access-9783161519987 Radtke, T. (2022), Die Hintertür zu mehr Open Access? GRUR – Gewerblicher Rechtsschutz und Urheberrecht 124 , 1562–1568. https://radtke.cc/publikationen/GRUR2022,1562.pdf Severin, A., Egger, M., Eve, M. P., & Hürlimann, D. (2020). Discipline-specific open access publishing practices and barriers to change: An evidence-based review. F1000Research . https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.17328.2 Spindler, G. (Ed.) (2006). Rechtliche Rahmenbedingungen von Open Access-Publikationen . Universitätsverlag Göttingen. https://doi.org/10.17875/gup2006-115 Further Reading Contributions by Rux, J., Hamann, H., Lauber-Rönsberg, A., & Hotz, T. (2023). In: IUM (Ed.), Open Access und das Urheberrecht – Eine komplizierte Beziehung? Symposium of the Institut für Urheber- und Medienrecht on 10.2.2023 in Munich. ZUM – Zeitschrift für Urheber- und Medienrecht 67 [Special Issue], 405–427 Fischer, G. (2022). Im Ringen um Erkenntnis und Anerkennung: Wie Rechtswissenschaftler*innen das eigene akademische Publizieren im Zuge von Open Access sehen. RuZ – Recht und Zugang 3 , 19–49. https://doi.org/10.5771/2699-1284-2022-1-19 Euler, E. (2020). Open Access in der Wissenschaft und die Realitäten des Rechts. RuZ – Recht und Zugang 1 , 56–82. https://doi.org/10.5771/2699-1284-2020-1-56 Hamann, H., & Hürlimann, D. (Eds.). (2019). Open Access in der Rechtswissenschaft, Sonderheft der RW – Zeitschrift für rechtswissenschaftliche Forschung 2019 . https://doi.org/10.5771/9783748903659 Sandberger, G. (2017). Die Zukunft wissenschaftlichen Publizierens. Open Access und Wissenschaftsschranke. Anmerkungen zu den Kontroversen über die Weiterentwicklung des Urheberrechts. OdW – Ordnung der Wissenschaft , 2 , 75–96. https://ordnungderwissenschaft.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/11_2017_02_sandberger_die-zukunft-des-wissenschaftlichen-publizierens_odw.pdf Symposium: Open Access Publishing and the Future of Legal Scholarship (2006). Lewis & Clark Law Review , 10(4), 733–924. https://law.lclark.edu/law_reviews/lewis_and_clark_law_review/past_issues/volume_10/number_4.php van Dijck, G. (2016). Legal research when relying on open access: A primer. Law and Method . https://doi.org/10.5553/REM/.00001 Content editor of this page: Prof. Dr Dr Hanjo Hamann, EBS Universität for Business and Law (Last updated: October 2024)....

  10. Open Access in Mathematics
    last modified at:

    What is Open Access? Find an introduction here. Source: based on Brinken, H. (2021). 10 Gründe für Open Access. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4643859 ( CC BY 4.0 International ) Open Access in Mathematics In contrast to their peers in many natural science or technical disciplines, mathematicians still draw on older literature when investigating current research questions. Open access in mathematics is therefore not restricted to current research results but also includes older literature. Retrodigitisation and open access to this digital content thus play an important role in this discipline. Another difference between mathematics and most natural science disciplines is the acceptance of literature that has not undergone scientific quality control. For example, in 2006, Grigori Yakovlevich Perelman was awarded the Fields Medal for a series of three papers proving the Poincaré conjecture, which he had published only on the preprint server arXiv . Because these papers were published open access, Perelman’s proof could be checked by various groups, even without undergoing classical peer review . Mathematicians are highly critical of rising journal prices. Thus, it is not surprising that in this field in particular, researchers often call for, and also participate in, boycotts of scholarly publishers (e.g. The Cost of Knowledge ). Open Access Journals As of November 2025, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) listed 815 entries under Mathematics . Article processing charges (APCs) are often viewed critically. For this reason, open access mathematics journals often use business models without APCs. Many of these journals are published directly by scientific institutions or professional associations. Examples include: Journal de l'École Polytechnique – Mathématiques Documenta Mathematica Because, as mentioned above, older literature is of great importance in mathematics, older journal volumes are often made freely available online even if the current volumes are closed access and thus subject to a fee. In these cases, the moving- wall model is often used: for a certain period of time (e.g. the first five years after publication) access is fee-based; after expiry of this embargo period , access is free. When publishing works in open access journals, care should be taken – also in mathematics – to avoid predatory publishing . What are Open Access Journals? Find an introduction here. Practical Tip Publishing Open Access: How to evaluate a journal's quality Video on the Funding of Open Access Articles Source: Becklas Dorow, C., Hauss, J. (2026). Funding Open Access Articles – What Are the Options?. Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB), open-access.network. https://doi.org/10.5446/73596 ( CC BY 3.0 DE ) open-access.network (2026) ( CC BY 4.0 International ) What are Open Access Books? Find an introduction here. open-access.network (2026) ( CC BY 4.0 International ) Open Access Books As of November 2025, the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) listed 95 titles under “ Mathematics “ and 207 titles under “ Mathematics & science “ , while OAPEN listed around 70 titles under “ Mathematics “ . Most books in mathematics are published with publishers that have traditional business models, and open access books are still a peripheral phenomenon. Disciplinary Repositories The most important repository in mathematics is arXiv , a preprint server for physics, mathematics, and related disciplines (see our Physics page). As arXiv grew in importance, the once-longstanding practice whereby authors published their preprints on their institutions’ websites was abandoned. Many repositories in mathematics no longer publish any new preprints (one exception: the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics’ MPIM Preprint series ). Mathematics research data can be conveniently deposited in Zenodo or in disciplinary repositories, which can be found, for example in the Registry of Research Data Repositories, re3data . In addition, there are a number of open access repositories with retrodigitised mathematics literature, the most important of which are: Göttinger Digitalisierungszentrum (GDZ) : contains, among other things, the Collection Mathematica , in which the Göttingen State and University Library’s entire historical mathematics collection up to and including the year 1900 is made accessible. NUMDAM : is located at the Université Grenoble Alpes and contains many French and Italian journals. Although access is free, embargo periods vary from journal to journal. The University of Michigan Historical Mathematics Collection: contains monographs published in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Historical Math Monographs (Cornell University Library) Project Euclid (Cornell University): hosts e-journals, many of which are open access. The Open Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR) provides an overview of these and other repositories. What are Repositories? Find an introduction here. Legal Aspects Find an introduction here, Video über das Zeitveröffentlichungsrecht Quelle: Brehm, E. (2021). Zweitveröffentlichungsrecht für Wissenschaftler*innen, open-access.network. https://doi.org/10.5446/51789 ( CC BY 3.0 DE ) Practical Tip Finding Open Access Literature (in German) Open Access Helpdesk You are welcome to contact our Helpdesk of you have any questions about Open Access. oa.finder The oa.finder shows you from tens of thousands of journals which are Gold Open Access, whether they charge APCs and how high these are. You can also view the funding modalities of your own institution. Other Useful Offerings The information platform zbMATH OPEN (formerly known as Zentralblatt MATH) has been open access since 2021. Open and reusable interfaces ensure the networking and sharing of scientific information. The goal is to establish the platform as a crucial hub in an open global mathematics library. The European Digital Mathematics Library ( EuDML ) is another open access research tool. Furthermore, within the framework of the Committee on Electronic Information and Communication (CEIC) of the International Mathematical Union (IMU) , efforts are being made to develop a World Digital Mathematics Library (WDML) in which the entire mathematics literature would be indexed, interlinked, and made accessible and reusable in the long term. zbMATH OPEN is a first step in this direction. To ensure the scientific quality of open access articles, the Episciences project provides a free platform on which contributions can undergo peer review. In this way, articles deposited in arXiv can undergo scientific quality control. Open Science in Mathematics Mathematical methods are also increasingly being applied successfully in interdisciplinary research and are therefore widespread. For example, mathematical models, parameters, data, and numerical algorithms are used in machine learning. Mathematical research data have thus become very complex, multifaceted, and unwieldy. The publication of these resources in open access is therefore highly beneficial for interdisciplinary research. However, especially in the area of data sciences, huge computing capacity is sometimes required (see the Mathematical Research Data Initiative, MaRDI, 2021). Traditionally, proving theorems is a central element of the publishing culture in mathematics. These proofs must be completely understandable to readers within the contribution itself. In open access publications, all content is already freely available. For a long time, there was therefore no need to provide supplementary research data. However, as digitalisation advances, automated theorem-proving procedures , visualisations, and other types of mathematical research data are increasingly emerging, and the open accessibility of these resources is becoming more and more important. Mathematical research data are very complex and diverse. The MaRDI Knowledge Graph , which is currently being developed, links many open access sources of mathematical research data. Besides the Knowledge Graph, other research data services tailored to the mathematics community can be found on the MaRDI Portal . Software developed in mathematics is often versioned and made available via Github , which has been part of Microsoft since 2018. Public GitHub repositories can be accessed without prior registration. However, to upload one’s own data, registration is necessary; the basic functions of the service are available free of charge. Many universities and research institutes offer Git instances of their own, based, for example, on the open source platform GitLab. Some journals that cover the computationally intensive areas of mathematics, for example numerics, already check the reproducibility of the code and software components of papers. One example is Computational Science and Engineering , a gold open access journal with its own Code Review Board. Efforts are being made to extend this to other areas of mathematics. open-access.network ( CC BY 4.0 International ) Further Reading Boege, T., Fritze, R., Görgen, C., Hanselman, J., Iglezakis, D., Kastner, L., Koprucki, T., Krause, T., Lehrenfeld, C., Polla, S., Reidelbach, M., Riedel, C., Saak, J., Schembera, B., Tabelow, K., & Weber, M. (2022). Research-data management planning in the German mathematical community [Preprint]. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2211.12071 Das, P. K. (2017). Anatomy of open access mathematics journals. Journal of Information and Knowledge, 53(6), 447–454. https://doi.org/10.17821/srels/2016/v53i6/98585 Hanselman, J. (2025). Guidelines for writing and reviewing mathematical software. Notices of the AMS. https://www.ams.org/journals/notices/202507/noti3210/noti3210.html Taubert, N. (2021). Green open access in astronomy and mathematics: The complementarity of routines among authors and readers. Minerva, 59, 173–194. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-020-09424-3 Teschke, O. (2018, December). Green, gold, platinum, nickel: On the status of open access in mathematics. EMS Newsletter. https://ems.press/content/serial-article-files/10613?nt=1 Content editor of this page: Dr Gernot Deinzer, Regensburg University Library . Last revision of content: Tabea Bacher, Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences (MPI MiS) , with the kind support of Britta Schneemann, MPI MiS (as of November 2025)....

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