Open Access

Gold Open Access (immediate Open Access) and Green Open Access (delayed Open Access) are the two main routes of Open Access publishing.

• With Gold Open Access, paying an Article Processing Charge (APC) ensures that the item is instantly available worldwide at no extra cost.
• Green Open Access denotes the secondary publication or self-archiving of scientific literature in an institutional or subject-specific repository (taking into account the respective publisher's conditions, which can be checked via Open Policy Finder (formerly Sherpa services)).
• Hybrid Open Access is a mix between Gold and Green Open Access.

The following visualisation illustrates the three main routes of Open Access publishing of scientific journal articles:

Image: Fostering open science, Source: http://www.dcc.ac.uk/blog/fostering-open-science

Copyrighted works are subject to the so-called moral rights and exploitation rights. In contrast to the personal rights, the exploitation rights are transferable (§ 24 UrhG (1)). A distinction is made between the usufruct (non-exclusive right to use the work) and the right of use (exclusive right to use the work). In publishing contracts usually rights of use are granted, so that the authors themselves have no exploitation rights.

With a free license, the author grants the users a work license. Content under a free license remains protected by copyright, but may be used within the scope of the respective license terms.

In order to ensure the legally clear and correct formulation of the license terms of free licenses, the organization Creative Commons was founded in 2001. The licenses, which were developed by Creative Commons and are freely available, allow the author to grant the user certain rights of exploitation as part of a work use permit, such as commercial or non-commercial use or further processing.

How do I recognise a Creative Commons (CC) license?

Documents with a Creative Commons license usually have the logo of the respective license as well as a text note on the license type and a link to the complete license text on the title page.

Example: This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

There are a total of six different licenses, which consist of four different modules. The four modules are:

• BY = attribution - The author and other parties designated to receive attribution must be named.
• NC = non-commercial - The work may not be used for commercial purposes.
• ND = no-derivatives - The work may not be changed, adaptations of the work are not permitted.
• SA = share alike - The newly created or adapted work must be passed on under the same license.

This results in the following six licenses:

• CC BY: Attribution
• CC BY-SA: Attribution-Share-Alike
• CC BY-ND: Attribution-No-Derivatives
• CC BY-NC: Attribution-Non-Commercial
• CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
• CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike-NoDerivatives

More information about the individual licenses as well as the links to the abstracts and legal long versions can be found here.

The biggest advantage for the author / creator is the widest possible dissemination of their work. Works under a CC license are freely searchable on the net, thus increasing the visibility and the probability that the work will be cited. In addition, by assigning a specific CC license, the author has the decision and control over what can be done with the work. The advantage for the user is, in addition to the free accessibility of the works, having exact knowledge as to which rights are granted and which are not. Both sides benefit from a high degree of legal certainty.

Complaints for copyright infringement are possible in the context of the CC-licenses as with any other copyright license. Thus, CC-licensed works are subject to the same legal protection as works that are fully protected by copyright.

The first prerequisite is that it is a "work" in the legal sense, so that the copyright applies. In addition, you must be a holder of rights to the work: You must be the author / creator and may not have given the exploitation rights, for example, to a publisher. Co-authors must also agree to the licensing with a CC license.

If you meet these requirements, you can assign your work a CC license. The license is granted by inserting the logo of the respective license and the corresponding text note including the link to the license in your document.

On the Creative Commons website you will find help on choosing a license and the logos to download.

The CC license must be specified as well as copyright and title. In the case of a print publication, the mention of the license suffices; in the case of an online publication, the link to the license must also be inserted. If the work has been edited, this must also be indicated.

Since there were country-specific versions for the CC licenses prior to the current 4.0 version, which were adapted to the respective state laws, the corresponding country code must also be specified for CC licenses up to version 3.0.

Example for quoting a journal article:

• Author, Title. In: Journal Name 12 (2012), 12-24, DOI: 10.1016/example.2012.12.024, CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

Example for quoting an image/a picture:

• Photo: Author, Title, CC BY-SA 3.0, edited by XY

As of January 1, 2024, the validation of Open Access publishing of works (peer-reviewed journal articles, contributions to edited volumes, etc.), that are wholly or partly funded by FWF projects, will be supported by an Open-Access Block Grant. The funding is administered by the Campus-Library of St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences.

Before submitting a manuscript resulting from an FWF funded project, please contact the Campus-Library (bibilothek@ustp.at // Jonas.Kerschner@ustp.at) to ensure that mandatory criteria of the FWF Open Access Policy are met.

Refunds are not possible. Invoices must be paid directly by the Campus-Library.

Funding requirements:

• Journal must be a in DOAJ listed Gold- or Diamond OA journal

or

• USTP has and active transformative OA agreement with the publisher

• Corresponding author must be affiliated with USTP

• CC BY license is obligatory
  Open Access publications from FWF-funded projects must bear the CC BY license (other licenses such as e.g. CC BY-NC or CC BY-ND are not compliant).

• FWF acknowledgement mandatory
  The following statement must be included in all publications upon submission:
• For publications in English :“This research was funded in whole or in part by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [grant DOI]. For open access purposes, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright license to any author accepted manuscript version arising from this submission.”

• For Publications in German: „Diese Forschung wurde gänzlich oder teilweise durch den Wissenschaftsfonds FWF finanziert [Grant-DOI]. Zum Zweck des freien Zugangs hat der:die Autor:in für jedwede akzeptierte Manuskriptversion, die sich aus dieser Einreichung ergibt, eine „Creative Commons Attribution CC BY“-Lizenz vergeben.“

The following criteria must be met to receive funding from the USTP Publication Fund:

1. The author is
   • under a true employment agreement with USTP, listing USTP as their affiliation
   • the corresponding author of the publication in question
2. The publication is an academic journal article that meets the following quality criteria:
   • Publications in an Open Access journal (Gold Open Access):
     The journal is listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
   • Publications in subscription journals (Hybrid Open Access):
     The journal in question is a peer-reviewed academic journal. (The review for eligibility is done by the library.).
3. No funding can be awarded if the publication fees are already covered by third-party funding, (e.g. via the FWF Austrian Science Fund). You can find further information on refunds of publications costs through the FWF Austrian Science Fund here.
   
   
4. The Open Access publication is subject to a Creative Commons license, ideally with a CC BY license (Attribution).
   
   
5. The funding available is distributed on a first come, first served basis. Funding cannot be reserved for a later point in time, requested retroactively, or be provided to cover fees that have already been paid.
   
   
6. Funding from the USTP Publication Fund may only be used for covering Article Processing Charges (APCs). No funding can be provided for covering other or additional expenses, for instance color printing charges.
   
   
7. The funding awarded to a publication is limited to a maximum of EUR 2,200.–. The amount awarded depends on the applicable Article Processing Charges (APCs). If the gross total APC exceeds the EUR 2,200.– limit, a maximum of EUR 2,200.– per article can be obtained from the publication fund. In this case, the applicant needs to submit an email indicating the internal account number that will cover the rest of the charges.

Awarding process

• Please contact the library, who will tell you if your publication is eligible for funding from the USTP Publication Fund. If your application is accepted, you will receive further information on how to manage the payment of the invoice.
• If your application is accepted and the amount applied for does not exceed EUR 2,000.–, the Article Processing Charge is paid in full by the USTP Publication Fund.
• If your application is accepted and the amount applied for does not exceed EUR 2,000.–, the Article Processing Charge is paid in full by the USTP Publication Fund.
• If your application is accepted and the total Article Processing Charge exceeds  EUR 2,000.– the USTP Publication Fund contributes EUR 2,000.– to the total charge. In this case, the applicant has to submit an email indicating the internal account number that will cover the rest of the charge.
• The library will carry out all the steps required for processing the invoice. In case of a split payment, the library will carry out all the required steps for charging the remainder of the charges to the internal account number indicated by the applicant.
• Your article is published Open Access under a Creative Commons license.