The term open access refers to free and unimpeded access to digital scientific content. Users are usually given a wide range of usage rights and provided with easy modes of access. The copyright, however, generally remains in the hands of the author. Through open access scientific information can be widely disseminated, used and re-processed.

Open access is a fundamental aspect of the research practices associated with open science / open research / open scholarship.

The Open Access Policy of Freie Universität Berlin (last updated: 2021) provides recommendations and guidelines on how to implement open access. Freie Universität’s Open Access Strategy 2018–2020, which was developed in 2017, announced the goal of significantly increasing the number of open access publications by 2020. 

More information: Open Access at Freie Universität