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Scientific Library Services and Information Systems (LIS)
Open Access and Research Funding by the DFG
By comparison, electronic publications that are available free of charge on the internet (open access publications) can be obtained without any restrictions, allowing raw and primary scientific data to be communicated. In practice, the value of electronic publication varies from one discipline to the next; in some disciplines it is disputed, and the trend is still uncertain. However, electronic publications are currently being quoted more frequently than conventional publications and are drawing increased attention from the scientific community. Their centralised cataloguing provides a broad basis for innovative research.
For this reason, the DFG signed the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities on 22 October 2003, thereby demonstrating its efforts to support the advancement of science by calling for easily accessible, freely available electronic publications and to facilitate research based on the documentation of cultural heritage.
In March 2009, the Alliance of German Science Organisations reacted to criticism of the open access model and rejected the insinuation that it wanted to curtail the freedom to publish (a violation of the German Basic Law) as “unacceptable”. The Alliance stated that, on the contrary, its Digital Information Initiative is aimed at equipping scientists and academics with the best possible information infrastructure.
DFG-Funded Open Access Projects
Through its Electronic Publishing programme, the DFG funds pilot projects concerned with developing the means for open access and for establishing open access journals as recognised discussion forums within the individual disciplines. An important role is played by the implementation of procedures for critically assessing the scientific quality of the articles submitted. The journals German Medical Science, Forum Qualitative Social Research and sehepunkte are listed here as examples.
The DFG also funds projects that develop business models for electronic publishing according to the principle of open access, guaranteeing the subsequent use of their offerings at a professional level. Furthermore, it funds projects for setting up a legal-organisational infrastructure or an information technology infrastructure (e.g. German Academic Publishers, Dissertations Online). The results of these DFG-funded projects can be used by universities and small- and medium-sized publishers wishing to take advantage of the new opportunities offered by electronic publishing.
- German Academic Publishers (www.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de/gap-c/)
- Dissertations Online (www.dissonline.de/)
- Open Access Information Platform(www.openaccess-germany.de)
- Open Access Policies – How Much Freedom Do German Publishers Give Their Authors? (www.ub.uni-stuttgart.de/wirueberuns/projekte/...)
- Social Science Open Access Repository(www.ssoar.info/)
With reference to cultural heritage, retrospective digitisation is of particular importance. Retrospective digitisation applies to copyright-free material that is essential to the discipline dealing with it; the centralised cataloguing of relevant projects through virtual specialised libraries and portals enables fast and immediate access to the freely available information.
Survey on the Publishing Habits of Scientists and Academics
In order to resolve the information deficit with respect to the distribution and use of open access publications, the DFG designed a survey aimed at gaining a clearer picture of the factors that influence the publishing and information uptake habits of the various disciplines and of the level of importance placed on free access to online publications by the different specialist disciplines.
