Further Information
For more information on Open Access publishing and related topics follow the links below:
General Information
Comprehensive information on Open Access is available on the Open Access information platform at https://open-access.network.
Quality Check
The following services and associations offer support in the search for trusted journals:
- The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is a good starting point for the search for a suitable Gold Open Access journal, as only journals are listed that meet the quality criteria of scientific publishing (e.g. peer review).
- Publishers who are members of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA) guarantee a high standard in the publication of Open Access journals.
- The service Think - Check - Submit helps with the selection of suitable Open Access journals, including checklists for the quality of the journal.
Publication of Theses
Some publishers – such as AV Akademikerverlag (formerly VDM Verlag), SVH Verlag or Lehrbuchverlag (all part of the OmniScriptum Publishing Group) as well as GRIN or Shaker Verlag – systematically contact graduates of master's, diploma and doctoral programmes and offer to publish their theses free of charge. Such requests should be treated with caution as the theses are printed unedited and without peer review process, while being distributed at high prices via print-on-demand.
Students, who are pursuing an academic career, are not advised to publish with such publishers, as they do not have an academic reputation due to their lack of quality criteria and are rarely purchased by university libraries or other academic institutions. Depending on the clauses of the publishing contract, the authors transfer their rights to use their work to the publisher and are excluded from using their work subsequently.
The university's repository for publications allows you to make your thesis available worldwide: by granting the University of Innsbruck only a non-exclusive right of use, the rights to use the work remain with you. If you would like to publish your work simultaneously with a publisher, you should clarify the details beforehand and obtain the right to a secondary exploitation (self-archiving / Zweitveröffentlichung) from the publisher. You can change the access status of your thesis in the repository anytime and make your work available online at a later date. An e-mail to ULB-digitale-Services@uibk.ac.at is sufficient.
Publisher Policies on Self-archiving
The database Sherpa/Romeo provides detailed information on the publisher policies regarding self-archiving of previously published articles in journals.
For PhD theses, the TU Berlin has compiled a list of publisher policies of well-known publishers for the re-use of published articles in theses. Additionally, the website of the TU Berlin collects information on whether the theses may be published before the article is officially published in the journal.
We recommend that you check the terms and conditions for any changes directly on the publisher's website. You should also check your publishing contract in case it differs from the standard contract.
Open Educational Resources
Open Educational Resources (OER) for teaching and learning purposes are closely related to Open Access. The "Guideline for the Creation of Open Educational Resources - Information and Practical Exercises for Lecturers in Higher Education" in the German and English version as well as further materials and information on OER are available here.
Kontakt Open Access-Koordinationsstelle
Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Tirol, Abteilung Digitale Services
Dr. Barbara Laner
Tel.: +43 (0)512 507 - 25401
E-Mail: open-access@uibk.ac.at