Open Access
Open Access (OA) means that scientific publications are available on the Internet freely, immediately, and without any paid access barriers. Users can read, download, and redistribute the full texts—and, depending on license – even edit them.
Today, Open Access is a central component of an open, transparent, and sustainable research landscape. By making knowledge freely available, Open Access strengthens innovation, promotes scientific exchange, and helps ensure that research findings benefit society as a whole.
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Open Access Publishing at KIT Library
Scientific research is largely publicly funded, which is why scientific findings should also be freely available for reuse. Open Access articles do not differ in quality or peer-review procedures from traditional closed-access publications; the difference lies solely in the funding. Access to Open Access publications is immediate and straightforward, which increases the visibility and reusability of research. KIT Library supports authors in publishing in Open Access through various publication types in a variety of ways.
KIT supports its researchers' Open Access publications by covering publication fees in pure Open Access journals.
Publication Fund
The KITopen repository combines a modern publishing platform with a powerful media portal.
Repository
KIT Scientific Publishing (KSP) publishes peer-reviewed scholarly literature.
KSP
KIT Library has entered into agreements with various publishers that enable KIT authors to publish under the open access model at no additional cost.
Framework AgreementsWays to Publish via Open Access
At the outset of a publication, KIT authors decide how to publish their research findings. Generally speaking, there are various open access strategies. Relevant considerations include access channels and funding options. KIT Library supports you with advice and services regarding the various open access pathways.
Diamond Open Access
Open Access journals that do not charge readers for access or impose Article Processing Charges (APCs) on authors are published under the Diamond Open Access model. In this model, funding comes from professional societies or institutional funds, which are paid as a lump sum to cover the operating costs of the journals. Diamond Open Access is therefore often described as research-driven and non-commercial.
KIT Scientific Publishing (KSP) supports editors in establishing scholarly open access journals. The publishing house also offers consulting services for transferring a journal from another publisher to KSP.
Gold Open Access
The "golden route" refers to works published for the first time in pure open-access journals, as open-access monographs, or as contributions to open-access anthologies or conference proceedings. The content is freely accessible and reusable immediately upon publication. For journal articles in Gold Open Access journals, authors are required to pay so-called Article Processing Charges (APCs). For authors affiliated with KIT, these charges may be covered by the KIT Publication Fund. KIT Scientific Publishing provides guidance on Gold Open Access books.
Hybrid Open Access
Hybrid Open Access journals are funded through the purchase of licenses (read access) by libraries and allow authors to make individual articles immediately freely accessible in exchange for an additional publication fee. A common criticism of the hybrid open access model is that publishers profit twice, since they charge authors additional publication fees even though libraries have already paid for licenses.
Libraries often license hybrid journals through so-called Publish and Read agreements. These agreements grant read access to a publisher’s journal portfolio (including Closed Access journals). At the same time, they include publication rights for members of the respective institution. Authors therefore do not have to pay separate publication fees; instead, the financing and billing for their publications are handled through the library budget. The centralized handling of costs may give the impression that there are no costs associated with the publications, but this is not the case.
Green Open Access
In the case of Green Open Access, the article was previously published elsewhere, e.g., in a closed-access journal by a publisher. At the same time or after a delay (“embargo”), the article is republished in Open Access in a disciplinary or institutional repository such as KITopen.
Closed Access
Closed Access is the opposite of Open Access. Scientific publications are behind a paywall. Researchers at an institution can only read articles published in a journal if that institution or library has licensed it. Further use requires additional agreements with the rights holders.
Open Access
By Email at: openaccess∂bibliothek.kit.edu