Please find attached an announcement concerning Open Access activities in
Germany.
***Apologies for cross-posting***<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
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Please find attached an announcement concerning Open Access activities in
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Germany.
DFG Project: A Nation-Wide Online Information Portal On Open Access
Issues
Since September 2006 the German Science Foundation [Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG] funds the implementation of a nation-wide
online information portal on Open Access issues that is operated
cooperatively by the Universities of Bielefeld, Goettingen, Constance and
the Free University of Berlin, with support from DINI - German Initiative
for Networked Information. The platform is intended to inform scientists,
their professional societies, university administrations and the
interested public comprehensively on objectives and use of Open Access,
and support them with practical assistance on its implementation in
practice.
Open Access Publications are conceived as scientific publications that
are worldwide freely available on the Internet. The Open Access
Movement's objective is the better utilisation of this form of
publication in order to maximise the diffusion and usage of scientific
knowledge. As recent studies demonstrate [1], the reception of Open
Access publications generally is already several times higher than that
of traditional publications behind cost barriers. For individual authors
as well as their institutions, this translates into a significantly
better "visibility" within the international scientific community. The
signing of the "Berlin Declaration on open access to scientific
knowledge" [2] by numerous national and international science
organisations and funding bodies and a growing number of Universities
underlines the importance for Open Access for Science Policy in general.
A DFG survey on author's experiences with Open Access [3] showed that
Open Access publication opportunities are still underutilized, but found
much willingness to actively further Open Access in Germany. Therefore
the DFG, as a cosignatory of the "Berlin Declaration", like many other
national funding organisations, strongly encourages all project
investigators to publish in refereed Open Access journals or to make
available digital copies of their work on Open Access servers.
Until now Information on Open Access is largely produced in an
uncoordinated way and is mostly scattered widely throughout the Internet,
much of it is dependent upon the local personal commitment of
individuals. This fact is largely responsible for the discrepancy between
the growing international significance of Open Access on one hand and the
comparatively small publicity and little practice with German scientists
on the other hand.
The new information portal sets out to counter this development in
Germany. The offer addresses primarily scientific authors, university
administrations and scholarly societies. Current deficits in information
and use within the German Higher Education Landscape are sought to be
removed by the concise presentation of relevant information on Open
Access issues targeted to specific audiences. The information platform
will also concentrate on concrete recommendations for action, know how
and argumentation aids as well as the sharing of practical experience and
all sort of information materials on Open Access.
The four project partners all belong to the pioneers on the field of Open
Access in Germany. After its completion in May 2007, the online platform
will be open to all interested users and additional cooperation partners
for exchange of information and experiences. DINI - the German Initiative
for Networked Information, regards the new information platform as a
chance to better promote the relevant open access activities of DINI.
Platform development and operation are therefore supported by DINI.
More information may be found on the website of the project
http://www.openaccess-germany.de/ or via the coordinators:
Dr. Norbert Lossau (Director, State and University Library Goettingen,
Project Leader), norbert.lossau_at_sub.uni-goettingen.de
Cordula Noetzelmann (Coordination Scientific Publishing, University of
Bielefeld), cordula.noetzelmann_at_uni-bielefeld.de
Dr. Katja Mruck (Coordination e-Publishing, Open Access, Center for
Digital Systems (CeDiS) of the Free University of Berlin),
katja.mruck_at_fu-berlin.de
Karlheinz Pappenberger (Coordination Scientific Publishing, University of
Constance), Karlheinz.Pappenberger_at_uni-konstanz.de
[1]
http://opcit.eprints.org/oacitation-biblio.html
[2]
http://oa.mpg.de/openaccess-berlin/signatories.html)
[3]
http://www.dfg.de/en/dfg_profile/facts_and_figures/statistical_reporting/open_a
cess/index.html
Received on Wed Nov 22 2006 - 13:12:17 GMT