Open Accses Policy

Ex Officio Law Review provides immediate open access to all of its content based on the principle that freely available research to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

This journal is an open-access journal, meaning that all content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are permitted to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full text of the articles in this journal without prior permission from the publisher or the author. This policy is in accordance with the principles of the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI).

 

Budapest Open Access Initiative

An old tradition and a new technology have converged to make possible an unprecedented public good. The old tradition is the willingness of scientists and scholars to publish the fruits of their research in scholarly journals without payment, for the sake of inquiry and knowledge. The new technology is the internet. Together, they make possible the worldwide electronic distribution of peer-reviewed journal literature and completely free and unrestricted access to it by scientists, scholars, teachers, students, and the public at large.

Removing barriers to access accelerates research, enriches education, shares knowledge globally, and lays the foundation for uniting humanity in a common intellectual conversation and pursuit of knowledge.

While open access has so far been limited to a fraction of the scholarly literature, various initiatives have shown that it is economically feasible and significantly increases the visibility, readership, and impact of authors and their works. To achieve full open access, the BOAI recommends two complementary strategies:

1. Self-Archiving: Scholars should be equipped and encouraged to deposit their peer-reviewed journal articles in open electronic archives (repositories). When these archives comply with Open Archives Initiative (OAI) standards, search engines and tools can treat them as a unified whole.
2. Open-Access Journals: A new generation of journals should commit to open access, while existing journals are encouraged to transition. These journals should not restrict access through copyright but instead use copyright to guarantee permanent open access. As price is a major barrier, open-access journals should not charge subscription or access fees and should explore alternative funding sources such as research grants, institutional support, foundations, and author contributions.

Open access to peer-reviewed journal literature is the ultimate goal. Self-archiving and the development of open-access journals are direct and effective paths to achieving it — actions that are within the reach of scholars today without waiting for market or legislative changes.

The Open Society Institute (OSI), founded by philanthropist George Soros, supports this vision and provides initial funding to help realize it. However, broader participation is essential.

We invite governments, universities, libraries, journal editors, publishers, foundations, learned societies, professional associations, and individual scholars to join us in removing barriers to open access and building a future in which research and education can flourish freely and globally.