Open Access means free access to scientific and academic literature and other materials via the Internet without any technical, legal or financial barriers. Documents that are published in Open Access are accessible to everyone, quickly, around the world and can be read, downloaded, copied, printed and also redistributed without additional costs.

The Open Access movement came about as a counter-reaction to excessive price increases in the field of commercial academic journals. Making academic literature freely accessible via the Internet should also counteract, at least in part, the multiple subsidisation and commercialisation of research funded by the public sector.

Objective: Free availability, distribution and visibility of academic publications

Alongside free availability, the aim of Open Access is to promote the distribution of scientific findings and increase the visibility and long-term availability of academic publications by university members.

You can find detailed information (including tips for authors who would like to make their academic publications freely accessible via the Internet) on the information platform "open-access.net".

The University Library coordinates publishing in Open Access at Kiel University

The University Library coordinates the area of publishing using Open Access at the CAU, and offers related services and consulting, so that the objective formulated in the „Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities“ of 22.10.2003 to "constitute a global and interactive representation of human knowledge, including cultural heritage and the guarantee of worldwide access" can be realised.

Contact: Dr. Eike Hentschel