Open Access Policy of the Paris Lodron University Salzburg

April 2014

The University of Salzburg supports Open Access to scientific and scholarly work. Rector Univ. Prof. Dr. Heinrich Schmidinger signed the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities on March 11, 2014. Open Access means unrestricted, free online access to scholarly research, cultural heritage, and scientific data.

The University of Salzburg feels societal responsibility to ensure free access to scientific literature, research data and objects of cultural heritage produced by its scientists and scholars. It therefore aims to offer Open Access to its entire scientific and scholarly output.

The University of Salzburg also plans to make objects of cultural heritage from its faculties and University Library easily accessible to researchers and the general public. Therefore, the University supports measures to digitize those objects and make them openly available.

Open access publications ensure international visibility, swift dissemination and easy access to the works of faculty members and students as well as persistent citation links when depositing in a repository. The University of Salzburg is pleased to assist its scientists and scholars if they are required by funder mandates to publish their work Open Access.

We strongly recommend that our researchers publish their own scientific and scholarly work and other appropriate research findings Open Access, and that they make already published work openly available, if there are no legal constraints. Publications by members of the University of Salzburg are to be made available Open Access wherever possible.

The University of Salzburg encourages its scholars and scientists to assert their copyright and advises them to retain the right to self-archive their works when signing author’s agreements.

Furthermore, the University of Salzburg encourages its researchers to work as editors or peer reviewers for Open Access journals or to launch such journals themselves.

This policy is only a recommendation. It is not the intention of the University of Salzburg to restrict academic freedom or the freedom of publication.

Implementation measures
To achieve the aforementioned goals the University of Salzburg supports the established strategies of Open Access publishing, the so-called Green Road and Gold Road.

The Green Road to Open Access means the self-archiving of already published works in an Open Access repository.

The University of Salzburg provides an institutional repository for its members which meets relevant international technical and professional standards. Members are encouraged to use it as a platform for publishing in accordance with the Guidelines. Authors should take care that the embargo period for green Open Access in a chosen journal does not exceed 12 months.

The repository also serves to make objects of cultural heritage from the University holdings available. The rectorate provides resources for their digitization.

The Gold Road to Open Access means the publication in an Open Access journal or the publication as an Open Access monograph. The University strongly encourages its members to publish their work in such a manner. Publication funds cover publication costs for University members when publishing in an Open Access journal. Transparent guidelines for content and technical criteria determine which publications are eligible for funding.

We encourage scientists to also make research data publicly available in order to support the reproducibility of research.

Responsibility
The University Library of Salzburg is responsible for maintaining the publication fund and the repository in coordination with other stakeholder groups as well as with institutions affiliated to the University (e.g. Research Service and Technology Transfer, IT Service).

In order to ensure quality management and transparency, guidelines for publication funding and for operating the repository are being developed in close cooperation with relevant stakeholder groups, in particular with scientists and scholars.

Contact
The University Library of Salzburg advises and assists its members in all issues related to Open Access and electronic publishing, such as licensing and copyright agreements.

If you have questions about Open Access publishing and other related topics, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

E-mail: