Open Access logo
© art designer at PLoS, modified by ULB (CC0)

Why open access?

Publishing open access means:

  • Being faster
    The digital creation process means that peer review and editorial work can be done faster than before. Costs and time spent on printing and distribution are eliminated, and the research results are immediately usable from the moment they are released. This makes research faster and more effective overall.
  • Being easier to find
    Search engines, specialist reference services, and library catalogues make digital publications easy to find. The content of the documents is indexed according to international standards. Full-text access makes it possible to check the relevance of the literature to a specific question directly.
  • More readers
    You can expect a larger potential readership than with restricted-access publications, and OA articles are often cited much more frequently than paid-for works. This also increases your personal impact factor.
  • Strengthening the information situtation
    The possibility of worldwide access to the full texts saves time, effort and money. Moreover, the more scientists make their texts available to the public, the easier and faster the state of research can be determined and developments can be advanced.
  • Facilitating new ways to work
    The worldwide digital network of scientific research promotes the internationalization of science as well as interdisciplinary and collaborative work within the scientific community.
    Science is also becoming more easily multimedia-based through open access.

Open access development

The international movement that open access has now become was triggered primarily by developments in the journal sector in recent years: Due to sharply rising costs, many libraries have been forced to cancel subscriptions and thus severely limit their ability to supply literature. In addition, there is a growing conviction that the results of research funded with taxpayers' money should be made freely available to the public.

Open access is a forward-looking alternative to traditional models and stands for a new culture of publication and reception.

The University of Münster is therefore committed to the open access idea, as are numerous scientific funding organizations, universities, professional societies, and non-commercial and commercial publishers.

Our flyer Open Access: Idea, possibilities, implementation provides further information on the topic.

Further Links