Informationsplattform Open Access: Geosciences

Geosciences

In this section we have compiled some information on Open Access (OA) in the geosciences. If you have any comments or suggestions, please do not hesitate to send us an E-mail.

 

General information on Open Access in the geosciences

Because open access to data plays a major role in the geosciences, more and more geoscience data centres are implementing OA. In the geosciences, as in all natural science disciplines, open access to the research results of other disciplines is increasingly important. For this reason, leading geoscientific institutions have clearly endorsed the OA principle.

In a position statement adopted in May 2005, the Geological Society of America expressed its support for open access to scientific data. In its Declaration for an Earth and Space Science Information Commons, the Electronic Geophysical Year 2007-2008 expressed its commitment to OA.

The Open Knowledge Foundation Network has issued a manifesto calling for OA to state-collected geospatial data. Open access to geodata is also of importance in the International Polar Year (IPY), as illustrated by the following excerpt from its Data Policy:
"the IPY Joint Committee requires that IPY data, including operational data delivered in real time, are made available fully, freely, openly, and on the shortest feasible timescale.
The only exceptions to this policy of full, free, and open access are:

  • where human subjects are involved, confidentiality must be protected
  • where local and traditional knowledge is concerned, rights of the knowledge holders shall not be compromised
  • where data release may cause harm, specific aspects of the data may need to be kept protected (for example, locations of nests of endangered birds or locations of sacred sites)".

In January 2007, the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) and Germany's national metrology institute, the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) jointly signed the Berlin Declaration on Open Access.

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Open Access journals

  • The Open Access publisher GEOZON SCIENCE MEDIA is a university start-up project. It publishes journals, monographs, series and documents in the geosciences and environmental sciences.
  • The publishing house Copernicus Publications in Lindau near Goettingen in Germany publishes many of the leading peer-reviewed geoscience journals:
  • Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP)
    European Geosciences Union; Copernicus, 2001-
    ACP's two-stage peer-review system is worthy of note: If the competent editors consider a manuscript worthy of publication, it is published first as a discussion paper on the website of the scientific discussion forum Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions. Peer comments and the author's replies are visible. In the second stage, the editors make the final decision on whether the (revised) manuscript should be accepted for publication.
    Impact factor: 4.881
  • Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS)
    From 1997 to 2004, HESS was a successful traditional subscription-based journal with a conventional peer-review system. In 2005, it converted to OA and adopted a two-stage publication process with initial access review by the competent editors followed by public peer review and interactive public discussion. It has continued to operate successfully since then.
    Impact Factor: 2.462
  • Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics (NPG)
    From 1994 to 2001, NPG was a successful traditional subscription-based journal with a conventional peer-review system. In 2002 it converted to OA, retaining its conventional peer-review system, and has continued to operate successfully since then.
    Impact Factor: 1.152
  • Other European Geosciences Union journals:
  • The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) contains some 407 journals in the category Earth and Environmental Sciences (as of August 2010, some double entries can occur).
  • BioMed Central publishes the geochemical journal Geochemical Transactions. Impact Factor: 2.346
  • ACME is an international OA journal for critical geographies.
  • The results of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program are openly accessible via its Publication Services.
  • Water Alternatives (WaA) is an interdisciplinary journal addressing the full range of issues that water raises in contemporary societies.
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Subject-based repositories and databases

Repositories

The above list features just a few of the many repositories worldwide and is not intended to be exhaustive. More than 55,000 geoscience documents can be found in over 100 repositories worldwide. The virtual academic library GEO-LEO provides access to these documents, enabling users to search and access them directly.

Databases

References

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