Open Access – University Library Erlangen-Nürnberg

Will my publication be archived long-term?

Ulrike Riedlberger — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 08:54:42 +0000

The operator of OPEN FAU guarantees all original data will be preserved and made available for at least 5 years. Through a cooperation with the German National Library, the data is also made available online for an unlimited period of time (so-called long-term archiving). Digital preservation is dependent on the availability of the format, the viewing software as well as conversion options; the German National Library already performs the digital preservation of doctoral and postdoctoral theses. The final published documents sent to the German national library via the OAI interface may not be amended or deleted.

Where can I publish research data under the open access model?

Ulrike Riedlberger — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 06:12:12 +0000

Videos, tables and ZIP files up to a maximum of 60 MB in size can be published using the open access model in OPEN FAU. The corresponding publication must also be made available in OPEN FAU. For research data which must meet more strict requirements in terms of memory, documentation or compliance with research funding organisations’ requirements, we recommend ZENODO (http://zenodo.org/about).

How are open access publications cited?

Ulrike Riedlberger — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 06:10:19 +0000

As with all internet sources: surname, first name, title. URL (access date).

How and where can I publish my own open access journal?

Isabelle Delker — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 06:07:33 +0000

There are several possible approaches if you have an idea for a new journal. If the open access journal is to be published by a large special interest publisher you should contact the publisher’s programme planning department. Check in the publisher’s programme or the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) beforehand whether the publisher publishes purely open access journals.

At Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) you can also publish series through FAU University Press or publish them digitally via the University’s open access repository OPEN FAU. The staff at FAU University Press and OPEN FAU are happy to help.

If you would like to set up an independent open access journal with researchers at other institutions and publish it yourself, we recommend the open source software Open Journal Systems.

What are the rejection rates for open-access journals?

Ulrike Riedlberger — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 06:02:00 +0000

BioMed Central: approx. 40%, PLOS: approx. 50%

Won’t the rise of cheap, open-access journals spell the end for traditional, high-quality journals?

Ulrike Riedlberger — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 05:57:00 +0000

The myth about ‘cheap open access journals’ was dispelled a long time ago. As already mentioned, large academic publishers are also part of the growing open access movement. Furthermore, unlike the previous model, it increases quality as the academic publishers are no longer including low-quality journals with the high-quality ones in the packages sold to libraries.

Which editing system is best for publishing open-access e-books?

Ulrike Riedlberger — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 05:54:32 +0000

The free open source software Open Monograph Press (OMP) assists with each stage of the process of producing open access books and book series. OMP was developed by the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and published under a GNU General Public License. The software’s functions include external reviews, proof-reading, layout/production, and management of catalogues and book series. In addition to the local installation and administration, you can also have the software hosted for a fee (from USD 1500 per year plus additional fees of USD 125–175 for each published book as of 1 July 2015).

Download information: https://pkp.sfu.ca/omp/omp_download/
Documentation: https://docs.pkp.sfu.ca/dev/documentation/en/
Hosting service: https://pkpservices.sfu.ca/content/press-hosting

Which editing system would be best for publishing my open-access journal?

Ulrike Riedlberger — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 05:46:48 +0000

The free open source software Open Journal Systems (OJS) assists with each stage of the process of producing open access journals. OJS was developed by the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and published under a GNU General Public License. The software allows you to manage rights, choose layout options and set different roles (reader, author, editor, proof-reader, web designer, reviewer), and has an OAI-PMH interface to distribute article metadata in search engines and (library) catalogues. In addition to the local installation and administration, you can also have your journal hosted for a fee (from USD 850 per journal title and year as of 1 July 2015).

Download information: https://pkp.sfu.ca/ojs/ojs_download/
Documentation: https://docs.pkp.sfu.ca/dev/documentation/en/
Hosting service: https://pkpservices.sfu.ca/content/journal-hosting

Which publishers are considered predatory publishers?

Isabelle Delker — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 05:43:48 +0000

See https://ub.fau.de/en/research/open-access/predatory-open-access-publishers/

What are the impact factors of open access journals?

Ulrike Riedlberger — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 05:40:30 +0000

The impact factors can be found in the Journal Citation Reports® database from Thomson Reuters in the same way as traditional journals. Most open access journals are now evaluated by Thomson Reuters.

Open access journals and publishers often advertise their impact factors on their websites.

The impact factors of the publisher Springer are available here: http://www.springer.com/gp/impact-factor-2015.