Free Availability Of Knowledge – Open Access At DLR

International Open Access Week will be held from 21 to 27 October 2013. Universities, libraries, research centres and government institutions around the world will join in events and activities to demonstrate the benefits and advantages of open access, the principle of unrestricted availability of scientific results, and to promote experience, inspiration and participation. The motto is clear: 'Helping to make Open Access a new norm in scholarship and research'. The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) is also participating in a number of activities.

Open Access is a term used to describe the free availability of scientific documents on the Internet. Its objectives are to achieve maximum dissemination and rapid availability of scientific information. The benefits for publications, such as greater exposure, frequency of quotation and the facilitation of search engine discovery are obvious, but there are other valid aspects that underpin the value of implementing open access in science.

Experts at Open-Access.net, a cooperative project between the Free University of Berlin and the Universities of Bielefeld, Konstanz and Göttingen, believe that it is also about greater internationalisation of science, promoting the efficiency of research through timely discussion of research results and "the availability of research results for application-oriented target groups and the general public." In summary, it is about education and innovation as key elements of our society..