Research

Research at the OU

The Open University is open to people, places, methods and ideas. Research is central to the Open University's mission. The range and depth of research can be seen through the news section of the OU's research portal and Open Research Online (ORO), the repository of research outputs. 

Research Support

The Library works closely with faculty administrators, computing services and the Research school to provide integrated support to researchers. There is a wide collection of electronic databases which provides full text access to ebooks, databases and more than 15,000 electronic journal titles.  The Library also offers:

• Print collection including over 250,000 print books , 2,500 print journal titles as well as Open University doctoral theses
• Inductions to all new PhD staff and research students, carried out by Learning and Teaching Librarians 
• Extensive training and specialised advice for literature searching. Register for generic training sessions to update your information skills.
• 1:1 support from specialist library staff 
• A modern library building with a study room dedicated to OU researchers with lockers for your books
• Document delivery service providing access to items not held in the OU Library collections, including books, journal articles, conference papers, patents, standards, theses and technical reports.
• Access to other university libraries via the SCONUL access scheme.

The Research pages allow researchers to discover the full range of services provided.

The Open University provides a number of free public access educational and research materials via its Open Research collections.