Open access to scientific literature: a multilevel analysis

The scope of the present work is to carry out a multilevel analysis of the rules that are related to the question of archiving scientific contributions and open access (OA) of scientific research. To reach this goal we first describe the main benefits associated to the OA and also the main barriers to its complete circulation, then we analyse the general context (i.e. rules, references, procedures etc.) based on three levels. Moving from the international to the national level we describe how Italian universities have implemented their principles on OA (third level). Finally, descriptive statistics are conducted to highlight which points are common and which differentiate the choices made by Italian universities that have approved a document regulating the archiving and open access of scientific research results.