Open Access Policy

Gemeinschaft: Journal of Social and Community Engagement is committed to providing immediate and unrestricted open access to all of its published content. The journal believes that making scholarly research freely accessible to the public is essential for promoting the wider dissemination of knowledge, encouraging academic collaboration, supporting education, and strengthening the global exchange of research and ideas.

All articles published by Gemeinschaft are freely available online without subscription or access fees. Readers may access, read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, and link to the full text of published articles without requiring prior permission from the journal or the authors, subject to the applicable terms of the article's Creative Commons license and proper acknowledgment of the original source.

The journal's open access policy is guided by the principles established by the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI), which advocates the removal of financial and other unnecessary barriers to scholarly literature. In accordance with these principles, Gemeinschaft supports the free availability of peer-reviewed scholarly works through the public internet, enabling researchers, students, educators, practitioners, policymakers, communities, and other interested users to access and make lawful use of scholarly knowledge.

Open access at Gemeinschaft is intended to enhance the visibility, accessibility, dissemination, and potential impact of scholarly work. By removing subscription and access barriers, the journal seeks to facilitate broader participation in the production and use of knowledge, particularly by researchers and communities with limited access to conventional academic resources.

The journal also recognizes that although access to scholarly publications should be free for readers, the editorial, peer-review, publishing, hosting, archiving, and preservation processes require appropriate resources. Therefore, Gemeinschaft is committed to developing transparent and sustainable publishing practices while maintaining the principle that published research should remain freely accessible to readers.

In supporting the broader open access movement, Gemeinschaft recognizes two complementary approaches to expanding access to scholarly knowledge: self-archiving and open-access publishing. Authors are encouraged to disseminate their scholarly work through appropriate institutional or subject repositories, personal academic websites, and other legitimate scholarly platforms, in accordance with the journal's copyright and licensing policies.

The journal supports responsible sharing and dissemination of scholarly publications while respecting authorship, intellectual property, research integrity, and proper academic attribution. Any reuse, reproduction, adaptation, or distribution of published material must comply with the applicable Creative Commons license and must provide appropriate credit to the original author(s) and publication.

Gemeinschaft: Journal of Social and Community Engagement is committed to advancing an equitable, inclusive, and sustainable scholarly communication ecosystem. Through its open access model, the journal seeks to ensure that research on social and community engagement can reach diverse audiences and contribute meaningfully to community development, social transformation, and the advancement of knowledge at local, national, regional, and international levels.

Budapest Open Access Initiative

The Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI), launched in 2002, represents a foundational international statement advocating free and unrestricted access to scholarly research through the internet. The initiative emphasizes the importance of removing financial, legal, and technical barriers that limit access to scholarly literature while maintaining appropriate recognition of authorship and intellectual contribution.

The BOAI identifies self-archiving and open-access journals as complementary strategies for achieving broader access to scholarly literature. These principles have contributed significantly to the development of contemporary open scholarly communication and continue to inform efforts to make research more accessible, discoverable, and useful to the global academic and public community.

For further information about the principles and recommendations of the Budapest Open Access Initiative, please visit the official Budapest Open Access Initiative.