About the Repository

The Digital Commons Repository at the Center for the Blue Economy was established to showcase faculty and student scholarship at the Center and its affiliate, the National Ocean Economics Program. We are fully supportive of transparency in publishing and the open access (OA) movement, which aims to significantly broaden access to research results by removing monetary barriers.

SPARC – the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition – has long been a powerful advocate for such openness. Their list of OA’s advantages is definitive and we have adopted it as part of our own rationale for implementing the repository on our campus:

  • Researchers as authors: immediate visibility for research output and thus increased visibility and usage of their results. Open Access may even lead to an increase of impact.
  • Researchers looking for information: access to literature everywhere, not only from a campus but also from any site with wi-fi access.
  • Funding agencies: increased return on investment (ROI), increased visibility.
  • Universities & research institutes: greater visibility, clearer management information.
  • Libraries: increased access for target audience, financially a more attractive model than the current subscription model.
  • Teachers & students: unrestricted access to material, enriched education, allowing equality of learning in poor as well as in rich nations.
  • Science: enhanced and accelerated research cycle.
  • Citizens & society: access to knowledge / access to the results of publicly funded research.
  • Enterprises: access to critical information.
  • Publishers: transparent business model, ultimate online article distribution, ultimate visibility for articles.