The first publication of scientific articles as Open Access (golden road) is the preferred type of publication from the point of view of making scientific findings as freely accessible as possible. However, even if an article has been published in a journal with a traditional business model, the publication contract with the publisher usually enables an additional open access publication. This popular type of open access publication is called the green road. Here, authors themselves take care of this secondary publication, also known as self-archiving. The following can be used as publication platforms:

- Generic repositories (e.g. Zenodo),

- e-print repositories (e.g. arXiv) or

- subject-specific repositories (e.g. BodoArXiv).

Here, either the submitted (pre-print) or the accepted manuscript (post-print) can be published under an open license. Which status of the manuscript may be published at which time is usually specified in the publication contract.

The choice of publication platform is crucial for the visibility and sustainability of the secondary publication. In principle, the private or the institute's website can also be used for publishing, but publication via a suitable repository will always lead to better findability and citation. Commercial social networks such as ResearchGate and Academia.edu, on the other hand, erect barriers motivated by their business model to prevent access to the texts published in them and therefore cannot be considered secondary publication in the sense of Open Access.

For optimal and efficient advice and support in the secondary publication of your research results in a suitable repository within the meaning of the Green Road, we are available to you in the current situation by e-mail or video conference. You can reach us easily and conveniently via info-dch(at)uni-koeln.de.