In the two subdisciplines within the eocnomic sciences, economics (Volkswirtschaftslehre / VWL) and business economics (Betriebswirtschaftslehre / BWL), publications in specialist journals are the most important form of publication. Books and book contributions play a subordinate role. The most important specialist journals in economics are mainly published by major specialist publishers such as Elsevier, Wiley and Springer. Some are members of specialist associations such as the American Economic Association, the German Economic Association (Verein für Socialpolitik / VfS) or the German Academic Association for Business Research (Verband der Hochschullehrer für Betriebswirtschaft e.V. / VHB).

The importance and reputation of a journal depend heavily on its position in relevant rankings, such as those published by Forschungsmonitoring.org (which serves as the basis for the Handelsblatt ranking, among others) or the VHB-Rating published by the VHB. The proportion of open access publications in this most important form of publication remains low.

Nevertheless, there is a pronounced working paper culture. Preprints in the form of working papers play a particularly important role (especially in economics). Here, research results are published immediately by scientific institutions in Open Access (e.g. in working paper series) even before they have been peer-reviewed by external journals. This means that almost all articles in major journals are simultaneously available as freely accessible preprint versions on the internet. In business economics, this preprint culture exists only in a few sub-areas, such as international marketing.

However, there has been a moderate increase in recent years. Subject-specific repositories and networks such as RePEc, SSRN or EconStor play an important role in the dissemination of the working papers.

For more information on Open Access within the economic sciences, see an overview article on the open-access.network website.