Open Access refers to the free, costless, unrestricted, and barrier-free access to scientific knowledge and materials. For third parties to reuse these materials legally, the creators must grant usage rights through a licensing agreement. Free CC licensesCreative Commons licenses are pre-formulated license agreements created by the non-profit organization Creative Commons, allowing copyright holders to grant public usage rights to their creative works. Once a work under a CC license is used by third parties according to the terms of the license, a contract is established (TUM, 2023, p. 5). Read More, for example, specify exactly how data and materials may be reused.

There are two primary paths for publishing scientific content: the golden path, which involves first-time Open Access publication of scientific texts, often in monographs or similar formats, and the green path, which allows for secondary publication on institutional repositories or the authors‘ own websites (Open Access Network, 2023).