Open access refers to the free access to scientific results. This way, scientific publications are digital, free of charge and publicly accessible via the internet. Open access publications can generally be read, copied, distributed, printed, searched and otherwise reused without technical or legal barriers.
Quick Guide
- get an overview of open access in 3 minutes
- how to achieve open access for different publication types
Routes: Gold & Green
- explanation of the two paths of open access publishing
- differences between an initial publication and a secondary publication
Open Access Award
- honours outstanding achievements in the area of open access
- application open to all university members, awarded yearly
Open Access Policy
- policy on open access publishing of Humboldt-Universität
- recommendation to publish research results open access
- guidelines for implementing open access
Open Access at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
The Humboldt-Universität has signed the "Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities" and thereby clearly committed itself to open access to scientific information.
The open access policy of Humboldt-Universität was first adopted by the academic senate in 2006 and last updated in 2021. It recommends that all scientists and scholars submit their contributions to open access journals and to make previously published articles available via the Humboldt-Universität's repository (the so-called edoc-Server) as well as to publish monographs and anthologies in a freely accessible way. This is supported specifically by the university's own open access publication funds to which members of the university can apply to fund open access publications.
The University Library of Humboldt-Universität is actively involved in the implementation of the Berlin Open Access Strategy.
Furthermore, Humboldt-Universität supports the idea of open access through its cooperation and membership in several national and international committees and initiatives:
Open Access Officer of Humboldt-Universität
The Director of the University Library, Martin Lee, is also the Open Access Officer of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and is charged with implementing the Open Access Policy.
Martin Lee, Director of the University Library
martin.lee(at)ub.hu-berlin.de
Phone: +49 30 2093-99300
For all enquiries regarding Open Access issues (e.g. the Open Access publication funds, second publications and the edoc server) as well as consulting opportunities, please contact the Open Access team of the University Library.
Contact Enquiries and advice
Concerns about Open Access (funding, secondary publication, legal questions, etc.)
Open Access Team of the University Library
E-mail: openaccess@ub.hu-berlin.de (preferred method of contact)
Telephone: +49 30 2093-99222
Concerns regarding the publication server/edoc server (support for authors, technical requirements, etc.)
technical requirements, etc.)
Electronic Publishing Working Group
E-mail: edoc@hu-berlin.de (preferred method of contact)
Telephone: +49 30 2093-70073