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Open Access Toolbox

Oa Toolbox

You would like to publish Open Access and don't know exactly how and where to find a suitable publication medium? Are you wondering what to look for in a publishing contract for an Open Access book? You would like to use legally compliant Open Access resources? 

On this page you will find many practical tools that will help you to implement Open Access in your own work practice.


1) Finding Open Access resources

How can I find Open Access resources and network with others? Many tools help you with your research and at the same time offer the opportunity to network with each other and work collaboratively.

BASE

  • One of the world's largest search engines for scientific Internet documents. The index includes over 300 million documents from over 10,000 sources. About 60% of the documents indexed in BASE are Open Access.

Open Access Button/Unpaywall

  • The Open Access button checks the free availability of scientific articles by using the DOI, title, URL, or other information on a publication. The browser extension also offers the option to automatically search for free and legal access to publications.
  • Unpaywall is a browser extension that also checks the free availability of scientific articles and links to Open Access titles.

Global Open Access Portal

  • The portal provides access to a wide range of global Open Access resources and offers country-specific Open Access profiles of over 166 countries and information on important Open Access initiatives, mandates, events and publications.

OAIster

  • An international union catalogue with over 50 million Open Access data records. They are accessible via the worldwide library catalog WorldCat.

open-access.network - subject-specific content

A subject-specific overview of Open Access in individual subject areas, including relevant repositories or other publication organs.

 

Publications in the humanities and social sciences

Humanities Commons (CORE)

  • CORE is an interdisciplinary open access repository for the humanities, which is part of the Humanities Commons platform and is operated by the MLA, among others. It also contains gray literature, such as teaching materials or lecture manuscripts.

GoTriple

  • A discovery service for the social sciences and humanities, developed while taking into account different European languages. The tool helps students and researchers to find freely available literature within the ESOC (European Open Science Cloud).

GoTriple

  • In addition to its function as a cross-language discovery system, the GoTriple platform also offers scientists the opportunity to network and work together.

Humanities Commons

  • A non-profit network that allows humanities scholars and practitioners to build a professional profile, discuss common interests, develop new publications and share their work. The Humanities Commons network is open to everyone, regardless of specialty, language, institutional affiliation, or employment type.

2) Finding & evaluating Open Access publication organs

General information on Open Access:

oa.atlas

  • A research tool with information on the strategies and services related to Open Access at German universities and research institutions.

Search

oa.finder

  • A research tool for scientists on the Open Access conditions of scientific publication organs with information customized to their own institution.

B!SON

  • A recommendation service for quality-assured Open Access journals. From the large number of Open Access journals available, the system generates a list of suitable journals sorted according to thematic relevance.

DOAJ

  • A directory of fully Open Access journals that use a quality assurance process (e.g. peer review). Many titles can be searched via metasearch down to article level.

WOS

  • A possible source when researching Open Access journals while taking the impact factor into account.

Scopus

  • A possible source when researching Open Access journals while taking the impact factor into account.

 

Examine

Think. Check. Submit

  • An interactive checklist for scientific publications.

Sherpa Romeo

  • An online resource that summarizes and analyzes Open Access policies of publishers around the world and provides summaries of the publisher's open access archiving policies for each journal.

Journal Checker Tool

  • The Journal Checker Tool is provided by cOAlition S to help authors find Plan S-compliant “routes” for publishing their articles. The tool checks the combination of funder, institution and desired journal and provides information on whether the Open Access guidelines of the journal match the specifications of the funder.

Sherpa Juliet

  • A database and central contact point for up-to-date information on the guidelines of funders and their Open Access, publication and data archiving requirements in general.

Search

DOAB

  • A directory of peer-reviewed Open Access books and publishers with over 30,000 book and 400 publisher entries.

OAPEN Library

  • A repository for hosting and distributing Open Access books.

 

Examine

OA Books Toolkit (How to choose a publisher for your open access book):

  • The OAPEN Open Access Books Toolkit addresses specific issues related to Open Access books. Each article provides a quick and brief introduction to a specific aspect of Open Access book publishing. The toolkit also serves as a guide: the articles contain a list of referenced sources, further reading and links to definitions of important terms.

AuROA contract generator

  • A tool for creating publication contracts for Open Access books.

OA Books Toolkit

  • The OAPEN Open Access Books Toolkit addresses specific issues related to Open Access books. Each article provides a quick and brief introduction to a specific aspect of Open Access book publishing. The toolkit also serves as a guide: the articles contain a list of referenced sources, further reading and links to definitions of important terms.

Open Access Journals Toolkit

  • The Open Access Journals Toolkit offers assistance on various aspects of the publication process for editors of existing or planned Open Access journals.

FAQ

... based on my specific institutional affiliation?

oa.finder

  • A research tool for scientists on the Open Access conditions of scientific publication organs with information customized to their own institution.

DOAJ

  • A directory of fully Open Access journals that use a quality assurance process (e.g. peer review). Many titles can be searched via metasearch down to article level.

WOS

  • A possible source when researching Open Access journals while taking the impact factor into account.

Scopus

  • A possible source when researching Open Access journals while taking the impact factor into account.

Think. Check. Submit

  • An interactive checklist for scientific publications.

Sherpa Romeo

  • An online resource that summarizes and analyzes Open Access policies of publishers around the world and provides summaries of the publisher's open access archiving policies for each journal.

Journal Checker Tool

  • The Journal Checker Tool is provided by cOAlition S to help authors find Plan S-compliant “routes” for publishing their articles. The tool checks the combination of funder, institution and desired journal and provides information on whether the Open Access guidelines of the journal match the specifications of the funder.

Sherpa Juliet

  • A database and central contact point for up-to-date information on the guidelines of funders and their Open Access, publication and data archiving requirements in general.

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