Open Access in Estonia

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the North American academic library and information studies literature, not much has been written about open access (OA) in Estonia. The present article addresses that lacunae by focusing on the country’s open access landscape, spotlighting essential OA resources in the Humanities and Social Sciences. UNESCO’s Global Open Access portal provides cursory information on Estonian OA and notes, “No national OA policy; no financial support for OA publishing; lack of awareness on OA/digital preservation among researchers and academics.” 1 This article examines the current state of open access in Estonia and argues that, despite the perceived lack of national OA policy in Estonia, OA remains a robust complementary alternative to proprietary databases. Estonian institutions have shown a keen initiative and interest in the development of the OA sources.