Open Access

Open Access (OA) is a publishing model that aims to ensure immediate, permanent, unrestricted
and free-of-charge access to scientific publications arising from publicly funded research to everyone without distinction via the Internet.

The transition to Open Access ensures the dissemination of science and the exchange of knowledge, fosters innovation and maximizes the benefits of science while fully respecting the rule of law,
in particular copyright and industrial property rights. For the purposes of this strategy, "scientific information" means scientific publications and research data.

The Director of the National Library of Technology, Ing. Martin Svoboda, was appointed
by the Research, Development and Innovation Committee as the main negotiator of transformative contracts for Electronic Information Resources (EIR). Therefore, the long-term goal of CzechELib
is and will be the implementation of Open Access elements into license agreements with EIR providers.

For several EIR providers, CzechELib has negotiated a discount or complete waiver of Open Access publishing fees for members of its consortium. You can find an overview of these benefits in the Open Access in license agreements section.

The main strategy for implementing Open Access elements is to convert the classic subscription license agreement model to a transformative agreement model. The transformative agreement includes the transfer of part of the read fee to the publish fee. The Article Processing Charge (APC)
is the amount an article author must pay in order for the results of their work to be published Open Access. The article is then immediately available on the publisher's website for all, without any need for a subscription.

The Road to Open Access section provides information on the first steps towards Open Access
in the Czech Republic and on the initiative of the National Open Access to Scientific Information Strategy 2017–2020.

The Instructions for Authors section contains detailed procedures required to use free or discounted Open Access publishing.