This portion of the guide is packed with useful links to Open Access search engines, repositories, databases, and other resources. It might seem a bit daunting scrolling through all of them and trying to choose what to use, which is why we have gathered some of the most popular links to the start page, under "Easy ways to start".
Search engines, like Google Scholar, are a good place to start if you want to get a broad understanding on a topic before delving deeper into the specifics. Below is a list of different types of search engines that have different uses. Some are focused on medicine and health sciences, some on Open Access materials, so you do not have to rely on simple Google searches to find what you are looking for.
There are various kinds of Open Access repositories for different subjects available online. Also, nearly all research and higher education organisations have an OA repository, where they store electronic theses, dissertations, and other research materials for everyone to read and use. Check Wikipedia for more information and a comprehensive list of scholarly preprint repositories.
NOTE: Most of the materials found in these repositories may have only gone through a basic screening process for offensive and/or non-scholarly content (and for possible health/biosecurity risks). Preprints are not peer-reviewed and therefore may contain unverified information. Some of the repositories listed here may also contain research data and other research related digital files.
Journal.fi - Finnish scholarly journals online
Theseus - open repository for theses and publications of Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences
UTUPub - University of Turku's open institutional repository
Åbo Akademi university's open institutional repository
Doria - A multi-institutional repository maintained by the National Library of Finland
Finnish Social Science Data Archive
Other Finnish Open Access repositories
Some publishers publish entirely Open Access, others offer a mix of both open and paywalled journals/articles/books. Respectively these are called Gold OA and Hybrid OA. Below is a list of various collections of Open Access journals and books.
ACS - Open access journals in chemical sciences.
BMC - Covers science, technology, engineering and medicine.
De Gruyter - Covers journals within the fields life sciences, material sciences, medicine, pharmacy, physics and social sciences.
Elsevier - Open access journals in medical, health and life sciences.
Emerald - Open access journals in health and social care sciences.
Frontiers - Open access journals in health and life sciences.
Idunn - Scandinavian University Press’ platform for academic publications including Nordic Journal of Arts, Culture and Health.
JSTOR - Covers the humanities, social, natural and life sciences.
MDPI - Open access journals in medicine, public health, physical and life sciences.
Oxford University Press - Open access journals in medicine and health.
PLOS - Open Access publisher for medical sciences.
SAGE - Open access journals in medicine and health sciences.
Springer Open - Covers journals in biomedicine, medicine & public health, life sciences, and psychology.
Taylor & Francis - Covers health and life sciences.
Wiley - Covers biological, chemical and health sciences.
Cambridge - Covers a wide range of subjects.
InTech Open - Covers physical sciences, engineering, technology, life sciences, health sciences, social sciences, and humanities.
JSTOR - Available book chapters cover humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.
National Academies Press - Online access to books and reports on biology & life sciences, food & nutrition and health & medicine.
Physics World Discovery - Online book platform provided by the publishing company of the Institute of Physics.
Researchers affiliated with universities or research institutes are entitled to either publish open access for free, or with a discount on the APCs. More information from the links below for Turku University of Applied Sciences', University of Turku's, and Åbo Akademi University's APC discounts.
Turku University of Applied Sciences
In Open Access directories and portals you can browse OA journals, books, and other resources, such as statistics and clinical practice guidelines.
OpenDOAR - Directory of Open Access repositories
ROAD - Directory of Open Access scholarly resources
DOAJ - Directory of Open Access Journals
DOAB - Directory of Open Access Books
EZB Elektronische Zeitschriftbibliotek - Electronic Journals Library
NCBI Books - Free online access to books and documents in life science and healthcare.
PubMed Central - Free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature.
Current Care Guidelines - Independent, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for Finland. These national guidelines cover important issues related to Finnish health, medical treatment, as well as prevention of diseases.
Eurostat - Eurostat is the statistical office of the European Union and provides health statistics for most of the European countries.
Healthvillage.fi - Health Village is a public health care service, produced in collaboration with experts and patients, making health care services available to everyone, regardless of where they live.
OAPEN - Online library and publishing platform
OpenAIRE - Publications from EU funded projects
UNICEF Data - Provides statistics on child health topics, such as education, child mortality, child nutrition, child protection, HIV/AIDS, maternal health, and water & sanitation.
WHO - World Health Organization's official website. WHO is the health authority within the United Nations, responsible for leadership on global health matters.
More international statistics databases - Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare's list of international statistics databases. The page is in Finnish, but links provided are in English.
