Open access share at LUH
Data basis
The data for Leibniz University Hannover's open access monitoring is taken from the Research Information System (FIS), which serves as the university bibliography. The following evaluations are based on the data available in the FIS as of spring 2024.
Open access share at LUH
Open access share of LUH publications from 2019-2023
Forty-six per cent of publications affiliated with Leibniz University Hannover and published between 2019 and 2023 are open access, whil 41 per cent are not open access. The remaining 13 per cent are publications that have not (yet) been assigned.
Publication types considered in the evaluation
| Publication types | Percentage of publications from 2019-2023 |
|---|---|
| Journal article | 59.9 % |
| Conference contribution | 17.6 % |
| Contribution to book/anthology | 14.3 % |
| Monograph | 3.3 % |
| Conference article in journal | 3.1 % |
| Review article in journal | 1.7 % |
For the evaluation of the open access share of LUH publications from the years 2019 to 2023, certain publication types were considered. In addition to journal articles, which are typically evaluated, other publication types that are considered relevant in the context of the open access transformation were included. Of the total number of publications considered in the evaluation, 59.9 per cent correspond to the publication type "journal articles", 17.6 per cent are conference contributions, 14.3 per cent are contributions to books or anthologies, 3.3 per cent are monographs, 3.1 per cent are conference articles in journals, and 1.7 per cent are review articles in journals.
Open access share of publications
The graph on the right shows the temporal development of the shares of the different types of open access in the analyzed LUH publications (see table above) from 2019 to 2023.
It is clearly visible that both the share of gold open access and the share of hybrid open access have increased significantly from 2019 to 2023. While the share of gold publications increased from 15.72% in 2019 to 21.79% in 2023, the share of hybrid publications has almost quintupled. 2023 is also the first year in which there were more hybrid than gold publications at LUH. Overall, there has been a positive development towards open access at the LUH.
Open access color shares of LUH publications per year
Open access color shares of LUH journal articles
Open access color shares of LUH journal articles per year
The graph on the left shows the temporal course of the open access color shares of exclusively LUH journal articles from 2019 to 2023.
The increase in gold open access journal articles is distinct, particularly up to 2022. The number of hybrid open access journal articles has also risen sharply over the years. It is particularly noteworthy that in 2023, for the first time, there are more hybrid open access journal articles than gold open access journal articles. Noteworthy is also that the proportion of closed open access journal articles has fallen from 44.5% in 2019 to 29.7% in 2023. This shows a clearly positive trend towards open access at the Leibniz University Hannover.
Explanation of the open access colors
The color coding used in FIS to distinguish different types of open access is based on the definition by Unpaywall:
- Green articles are published in subscription-based journals but archived in an open-access repository or archive. These archives can be discipline-specific (such as ArXiv) or institutional archives operated by universities or other institutions. Green articles can be published versions or preprints and may have any license or no license.
- Bronze articles are freely readable on the publisher's website without a license specified. There may be a delay between publication and access, and articles can often be removed by the publisher.
- Hybrid articles are freely accessible at the time of publication and have an open license. These are usually published against an article processing charge (APC).
- Gold articles have all the features of hybrid articles but are published in purely open access journals, which are called "Gold Journals" or simply "Open Access Journals.
Open Access share per publication type
Open access percentages of the considered publication types per year
The evaluation on the left shows the level of open access percentages within different publication types per year.
At an average of 91%, the highest open access percentage is to be noted in the publication type of conference articles in journals. For articles in journals, a significant increase from around 47% in 2019 to around 65% in 2023 can be seen. The open access percentage for conference contributions has also remained constant over the years at an average of 30%. The open access share of contributions to books or anthologies, as well as monographs, has risen from around 14% to 23%. In summary, while there is a trend towards open access, there is also still a lot of potential for improvement. It should be noted however that publication data from the previous year has most likely not yet been fully added into the FIS at this point in time.
