About open access

LSMU Open Access mandate (Adopted by LSMU Rectorate on 4 November 2013, Decision No.13-2)

Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LSMU) creates institutional repository LSMU eDoc supporting Open Access policy and seeking to enable the possibility to access freely (in accordance with copyright provisions) the results of scientific research of the LSMU and to ensure the visibility, effective use, citation of the publications of the University‘s scientists. Open access to the research results of an institution increases the significance of scientific investigations, brings them to the society, expanding their visibility and citation both at the national and global levels. University actively supports the open access movement thereby realizing one of the functions of the University – social responsibility to the society. It promotes international co-operation, researchers networking, new cross-disciplinary research, innovation, development, sharing of information and promotion of science. Lithuanian University of Health Sciences open access institutional repository (hereinafter - Institutional Repository LSMU) is launched in 2013 in order to ensure open access to the scientific production of the University. The Institutional Repository LSMU contains scientific publications, books, conference papers, student final papers (graduate, undergraduate, doctoral thesis) and other scientific output developed by Lithuanian University of Health Sciences staff. Scientific journals and e-books, published by LSMU, are open access.

“Open Access” to information – the free, immediate, online access to the results of scholarly research, and the right to use and re-use those results as you need – has the power to transform the way research and scientific inquiry are conducted. It has direct and widespread implications for academia, medicine, science, industry, and for society as a whole. Open Access has the potential to maximize research investments, increase the exposure and use of published research, facilitate the ability to conduct research across available literature, and enhance the overall advancement of scholarship. Research funding agencies, academic institutions, researchers and scientists, teachers, students, and members of the general public are supporting a move towards Open Access in increasing numbers every year.

There are various ways in which open access can be provided, with the two most common methods usually categorised as gold or green open access. One option for authors who wish to make their work openly accessible is to publish in an open access journal ("Gold open access"). Self-archiving (also know as "Green open access") refers to the practice of depositing articles in an institutional or subject repository.