HSRW strengthens Open Access in publishing

The "European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention (EJEEP)" is an English-language journal that publishes its 20th volume this year. It provides a forum for studies in the field of macroeconomic theory, economic institutions, and economic policy questions.

Professor Dr Torsten Niechoj, an economist and political scientist at Rhine-Waal University, is one of the managing editors of the journal and also leads a project on Open Access at Rhine-Waal supported by the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics. He explains, "The collaboration with the Open Library Economics (OLEcon) at ZBW and the funding provided through the project make it possible to convert the previously subscription-funded journal to Diamond Open Access. This allows libraries and readers to access all new articles as well as all previously published articles immediately and without any paywall restrictions. The articles of the journal can be found and downloaded through common search services and repositories." The journal's editors - in addition to Niechoj, Professors Eckhard Hein (HWR Berlin), Marc Lavoie (University of Ottawa, Canada), and Gennaro Zezza (University of Cassino, Italy) - agree that the transition of EJEEP to Open Access under the HSRW project not only increases the visibility of the journal and simplifies access to its articles, but also strengthens the role of scientists in publishing research findings and enables dissemination of scientific results to interested parties without financial or other barriers.

Of course, there are still production costs involved. Although authors do not receive any fees for their articles, and the editors volunteer their work for the journal, there are costs for editing, typesetting, and providing the articles that need to be covered. These tasks will continue to be handled by the British publisher Edward Elgar, who has published EJEEP in previous years and will continue to host the articles on their website at http://www.elgaronline.com/ejeep. The incurred costs will initially be covered by project funds from the sponsor ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics and are intended to be organized through collaborative financing by libraries in the long term (see https://olecon.zbw.eu/). Several libraries are already participating in the financing, including the library of Rhine-Waal University. With this new financing model, it is possible to make the journal's articles accessible worldwide, not only through a few subscribing libraries. "We are delighted that EJEEP can now be published as Diamond Open Access in the future and we would like to thank ZBW and the Open Library Economics for their support in the transformation of the journal," emphasizes Professor Torsten Niechoj, lead editor of EJEEP. "The university can contribute to strengthening the role of scientists in the publication process and facilitating access to research results."