The aim of Open Access is to make scientific literature and materials freely available on the internet for everyone. This means that there should be no financial, legal, or technical barriers to reuse.
The most important advantage is the maximum and rapid dissemination of one's own scientific work with free access. Increased visibility and
resulting higher citation rates occur due to discoverability through search engines. The rapid and broad scientific exchange, which is also
facilitated interdisciplinarily by Open Access, is supported by the recommended use of free licenses (Creative Commons) in Open Access declarations. These licenses can improve reuse. Since the exploitation rights remain with the authors, archiving in various repositories is possible.
Gold Open Access refers to initial publications in Open Access journals, collections, or monographs.
Hybrid Open Access articles are bought out in subscription-based journals for a fee and are thereby made freely accessible.
Green Open Access involves the secondary publication or self-archiving of already published works in an institutional or professional repository.
Depending on the publisher, an embargo or waiting period must be observed after the initial publication.
The institutional repository of the Graz University of Technology serves as a central platform for the secondary publication of scientific works by its researchers. Here, the entire scientific output of the Graz University of Technology should be visible. Articles, monographs, and research data are to be permanently archived here.
Authors often assign all exploitation rights to the publishers in whose media the primary publication takes place. This applies in particular, but not exclusively, to the publication of scientific articles in specialist journals. The transfer of rights often takes place unknowingly and means that the authors of the works themselves are no longer free to distribute or publish them as they please.
It is strongly recommended to ensure secondary exploitation rights for all publications.
The legal secondary exploitation right of the authors of scientific contributions (§37a UrhG) exempts scientific contributions from contractually granted exclusive usage rights in publishing contracts under certain conditions.
The university is committed to supporting its members with regard to legal questions when secondary publications or self-archiving in the TU Graz repository. Please contact the TU Graz Open Access team.
To publish an article in Open Access, Article Processing Charges (APCs) are often due. These are demanded by the publisher as a publication fee and are paid by authors, institutions, or funding agencies (e.g. from research or project funds).
Agreements with many publishers enable members of the Graz University of Technology to publish Open Access for free or at a reduced cost. The TU Graz
publication fund can be claimed by meeting certain criteria.
The publication of scientific work as Open Access is made a condition for funding by various funding institutions (FWF, Horizon Europe).
Many funding agencies do not support the form of Hybrid Open Access because under certain circumstances, publication performance may have to be paid
for twice (so-called "double dipping").
Through the conclusion of transformative agreements with major scientific publishers, OA can also usually be published in traditional journals. There is a list of participating journals for each publisher.
Despite many security measures, there have also been cases of unscrupulous and even criminal publishers. These "predatory publishers" or "fake journals" demand publication fees without providing any contractual service such as quality control or reliable long-term availability of the articles.
Unscrupulous journals are listed under Cabell's "predatory reports". TU Graz has a campus license.
To protect oneself from such predatory publishers, the aforementioned lists or databases can be helpful.
Franz Pichler
Elisabeth Rosenberger
Graz University of Technology
Library and Archive
Serials Management, Open Access, and Digitsation
E-Mail: openaccess.bibliotheknoSpam@tugraz.at
Franz Pichler
Tel: +43 316 873 6677
Elisabeth Rosenberger
Tel: +43 316 873 6613