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Open Access

Open Access refers to the free access to scientific publications via the Internet. Open Access is supported by scientific organisations, universities and libraries around the world. The aims of these efforts are:

  • fast, worldwide dissemination of scientific information
  • free access to the results of publicly funded research
  • increased visibility and citation frequency of documents
  • simplified reusage for further research
  • promotion of interdisciplinary and international cooperation
  • long-term availability of documents

If you are interested in publishing the results of your research Open Access, we offer several services for you.

What ist Open Access exactly? Here you find a video explaining the term.

There are currently two major paths to Open Access:

Green Open Access: Self-archiving or secondary publication of conventionally published articles on subject-specific or institutional servers. At the University of St.Gallen, the Institutional Repository Alexandria is available for this.

Gold Open Access: Original publication of scientific articles in quality assured (peer reviewed) Open Access journals

In 2006, major Swiss scientific organizations, including the University of St. Gallen, signed the Berlin Declaration. Starting 2007, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) is obliging grant recipients to publish their research results Open Access. The University of St.Gallen has established its Open Access Policy in 2007 as well.

In 2017 and 2018, swissuniversities and the SNSF adopted a national Open Access strategy for Switzerland and a corresponding action plan with the aim that by 2024 "all publicly funded scientific publications must be freely accessible on the Internet”.

 

Additional information

Institutional Repository Alexandria
Swissuniversities Open Access
SNSF

 

ACM 100%  Corresponding authors affiliated with the University of St.Gallen can publish Open Access at no additional cost in participating ACM Journals, Conference Proceedings and Magazines. Important: please use your HSG email address when submitting your article. ACM automatically checks eligibility under this agreement based on the email address. This offer is good for research articles that are accepted for publication between June 1st 2022 and December 31st 2025.
Cambridge University Press 100% Corresponding authors affiliated with the University can publish Open Acess at no additional cost in participating Cambridge University Press Journals
De Gruyter 100%  Corresponding authors affiliated with University of St.Gallen can publish Open Access at no additional cost in participating De Gruyter Journals. Please be aware: participating journals are only the ones listed on the tab UNISG!
Elsevier 100% Contractless situation. You can find detailed information on the current situation on our continuously updated information page.
IEEE 100% Corresponding authors affiliated with the University can publish Gold Open Access in selected IEEE Journals. There is a cap on the annual number of eligible articles from all participating Swiss HEIs.*
MDPI 20% Authors receive a 20% discount on APC. Please take note: the remaining 80% of APC are not financed by the library! Funding for the discounted APC has to be secured by authors. To benefit from this discount, authors must select their affiliation with the University of St.Gallen in the submission process. Once an article is accepted, authors will be invoiced directly from MDPI, with a 20% discount on the current APC.
Nature Research 100% Corresponding authors currently affiliated with the University of St.Gallen can publish Open Access at no additional cost in participating Nature Research Journals - not eligible are articles published in Nature Reviews, Nature Protocols and Nature Communicates. The article must be accepted for publication after 01.01.2024. There is a cap on the annual number of eligible articles from all participating Swiss HEIs. *
Oxford University Press 100% Corresponding authors currently affiliated with the University of St.Gallen can publish Open Access at no additional cost in participating OUP journals. The article must be accepted for publication after 01.01.2024. There is a cap on the annual number of eligible articles from all participating Swiss HEIs. *  
SAGE 100% Corresponding authors affiliated with the University can publish Open Access in participating SAGE Journals. The discount is 100% for Hybrid Open Access, 20% for Gold Open Access. 
Springer 100% Corresponding authors affiliated with the University can publish Open Acess at no additional cost in participating Springer Journals. Nature Journals are not covered by this. Additional charges (e.g. colour charges, offprints etc.) are also not covered. There is a cap on the annual number of eligible articles from all participating Swiss HEIs.*
Taylor & Francis 100%

Update February 2024: a new agreement with T&F, covering the period 2024 till 2027, has been concluded. This new agreement will also cover Gold Open Access publication in Dove and F1000 journals.

Corresponding authors currently affiliated with the University of St.Gallen can publish Open Access at no additional cost in participating Taylor & Francis, Dove and F1000 titles

The article must be accepted for publication after 01.01.2024. There is a cap on the annual number of eligible articles from all participating Swiss HEIs. *

Wiley 100% Corresponding authors affiliated with the University can publish Open Access at no additional cost in participating Wiley Journals. There is a cap on the annual number of eligible articles from all participating Swiss HEIs.*
  * Publishers with an annual cap on the number of eligible articles: once the annual cap is reached, you can either provide the funding for the Open Access publication of an article in the journal yourself, or you can opt for Green Open Access publication in the institutional repository Alexandria, accoring to the rights you retained in your publishing agreement.

If your article isn’t covered by one of the current Publish & Read Agreements, you will need to find funding from other sources if you plan to publish Open Access.

Please check if you are eligible for support by the HSG-Publication Fund. If eligible, the fund not only can cover Open Access fees for articles, but also for Open Access books.

Further funding options can be found on the pages of the Grants Office.

When publishing Open Access, you will use the Creative Commons licensing system. You can choose from a selection of options, depending on the choices your publisher is offering.

We strongly recommend the use of a CC BY license! This license lets others distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon your work, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered, recommended for maximum dissemination, and use of licensed materials.

As an alternative, you can choose a CC BY-NC license. Please be aware: the «non commercial» clause is also binding for authors. With this license, you can’t share the publisher’s PDF version on platforms like ResearchGate, Academia.edu or LinkedIn, as they qualify as commercial platforms. Your personal profile page on these platforms is considered as commercial.
If possible, do not pick the highly restrictive CC BY-NC-ND license. Additionally, the “Non-Derivative” clause will severely limit reusing your content, e.g. no remixes or adaptations are allowed, also, in some countries, using this content for Text- & Data-Mining TDM is not possible.

If an immediate Open Access publication isn’t possible (Gold OA), there may still be the option of Self-Archiving or Green OA. You can choose from a selection of options, depending on the choices your publisher is offering.: self-archiving your article on your personal website or in an institutional repository like Alexandria.

As an author, you will retain certain rights. Therefore, it is recommended that you check a journal’s policy regarding which rights you will keep, e.g., personal reuse, scholarly sharing, self-archiving rights, embargoes etc. You can also check the relevant policies with Sherpa/Romeo. Additionally, this information should also be a part of the Copyright Transfer Agreement that you sign with your publisher, make sure to read it before you sign.

Please take note: if you are planning to self-archive in Alexandria: depending on the deposited version (preprint, postprint, published version), different embargo periods may apply.

The Institutional Repository of the University of St.Gallen is part of the Alexandria research platform. In addition to publications, Alexandria contains personal profiles and information on research projects at the HSG. All this research information is freely accessible worldwide and can also be found via various search engines (Google Scholar, BASE, Unpaywall).

The platform is a service of Vice-President's Board (Research & Faculty). It has been established in 2005 and is part of the implantation strategy of the University’s Open Access Policy.

Publications in Alexandria:

  • Articles from academic journals
  • Contributions from conference proceedings
  • Book chapters
  • Monographs
  • Other scientific contributions: Working papers, research reports, newspaper articles, radio or TV features

Researchers can enter information on their publications and projects directly in Alexandria and upload full texts. The information becomes accessible online to everyone immediately after it has been entered.

If you have any questions, please contact alexandriaunisg.ch

 

In case you are uncertain if you are allowed to make an article freely accessible on Alexandria, we can check the rights for you. We will check if the used version is compliant with the legal requirements of a publisher.

Just contact openaccessunisg.ch for this.

What are your options if your requested full-text article is behind a paywall on a publisher’s platform?

The Library of the University of St. Gallen recommends the following

  • Academic search engines
  • Open access browser extensions / plug-ins
  • Scholarly Sharing: contact the author

 

You can find additional information on our dedicated Search & Find page covering these options.

Open Access journals cover the same range of subjects and can provide quality as conventional publications. Special features are:

  • The digital publication has priority over the printed form.
  • The articles are freely accessible on the Internet from the time of their publication (no embargo period for the latest issues).
  • The publication costs are covered by alternative financing models instead of subscription or license fees.
  • Around a quarter of OA journals require the payment of publication fees (pre-financing model).

 

Additional information

Directory of Open Access Journals DOAJ

 

When selecting a suitable journal or publisher for Open Access publication, authors should exercise a certain degree of caution. Predatory Publishers or Journals promise that, like reputable publishers, they will offer services as peer review, marketing or indexing in relevant databases or indices in return for an Article Processing Charge. However, these services are either offered in inferior quality or not at all. These unethical business practices not only damage the scientific publication landscape but can also have an impact on the reputation of authors who publish in such Predatory Journals.

Potential warning signs that may indicate a Predatory Journal:

  • The website of the journal looks unprofessional, e.g. bad layout, advertising etc.
  • Journal has no ISSN (International Standard Serial Number, unique identifier, equivalent to ISBN for books) or the given ISSN can’t be verified
  • No access to archives of previous published content
  • Editorial Board is not listed
  • Editorial Board is listed, but members can’t be found online
  • Missing information on author’s rights
  • Missing or very short Peer Review: immediate publication, lacking quality control etc.

When in doubt, these resources can be useful when selecting a journal for Open Access publication:

If you should have any questions, please reach out to us at openaccessunisg.ch.

The Senate of the University of St.Gallen has adopted an Open Access Policy in 2007. This Policy is further substantiated in a Regulation on the Open Access Policy.

  • SHERPA/RoMEO - Online service collecting the policies of more than 22'000 academic journals on copyright and self-archiving.
  • Creative Commons - Information on the Creative Commons license system.
  • SPARC - Global initiative for the advancement of Open Science (Open Access, Open Data, Open Education) with in depth information on author rights.

Contact

openaccessunisg.ch

Christian Schlumpf
Library
christian.schlumpfunisg.ch
+41 71 224 22 93

Ruedi Lindegger
Vice-President's Board (Research & Faculty)
ruedi.lindeggerunisg.ch
+41 71 224 76 00

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