Please find attached an announcement concerning Open Access activities in
Germany.
Press Release (May 2007)
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Information platform open-access.net now online!
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open-access.net, an online information platform on open access issues is
going
online now. The Universities of Bielefeld, Goettingen, Constance and the Free
University of Berlin jointly operate the platform and have received
funding from the
German Research Foundation (Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG). The platform intends to inform on the growing
scientific and political significance of open access issues. At the German
E-Science
Conference 2007 hold on 2 May 2007 in Baden-Baden the online information
platform
will be launched to the public for the first time.
The new platform enables not only scientists to gain comprehensive
information about
open access. Open access literature is defined as free of charge for users
providing
online access to digital scholarly material worldwide. Since the Berlin
Declaration
on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities in 2003 open
access has
gained increasing
significance within the academic world. Various academic institutions,
research
funding agencies as well as a growing number of universities have already
signed the
Berlin Declaration
(
http://oa.mpg.de/openaccess-berlin/signatories.html). Accordingly, the
German
Research Foundation (DFG) encourages scientists to provide an open access
version of
the research it has funded. The publications are either to be deposited in
discipline-related or institutional electronic archives (repositories)
following
conventional publication, or to be published in a recognised peer-reviewed
open
access journal. Meanwhile, the advantages of worldwide free and
unrestricted access
to scientific research are beyond controversy. For researchers, using open
access
maximises their research impact, increases their visibility and raises their
reputation. Users are benefiting from open access as well: They can access
relevant
information on the Web worldwide at any time.
open-access.net is the first online platform providing information on open
access in
German language. Since 2006 the platform has been funded by the German
Research
Foundation (DFG) supporting scientists and research institutions to
implement open
access in practice. Open-access.net offers information on publishing
strategies,
costs and legal aspects.
Additionally, it presents convincing arguments for the use of open access
not only
for researchers but also for research institutions, universities,
professional
associations, libraries and publishing houses.
The Universities of Bielefeld, Goettingen, Constance and the Free
University of Berlin who belong to the pioneers of the open access
movement in
Germany jointly operate the platform open-access.net. It is also supported
by the
German Rectors' Conference, the Volkswagen
Foundation and the German Initiative for Networked Information (Deutsche
Initiative
für Netzwerkinformation e. V., DINI). Moreover, the Helmholtz Association
(Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft) and the Max Planck Society
(Max-Planck-Gesellschaft) provide additional information on their open access
policies. An academic advisory council will regularly evaluate the
platform to meet
the needs of researchers.
Open-access.net starts to offer a broad variety of information materials and
practical assistance. However, discipline-related information pages are
still under
construction. As a result, specific information on open access is
currently not
available for every discipline. But all users are explicitly invited to
contribute
to the platform by submitting additional news, information and suggestions.
Therefore, the category ^ÓNews^Ô will present submitted contributions and
information
on new developments concerning open access that can be subscribed via
RSS-feed.
Additionally, a moderated mailing list will provide an opportunity to
discuss open
access issues.
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Further Information
===========================
Website platform:
www.open-access.net
Project leader:
Dr. Norbert Lossau, Direktor der Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek
Göttingen,
E-Mail:
Norbert.Lossau(at)sub.uni-goettingen.de; Tel.: 0551/39-5212
Project coordination:
Anja Kersting, Bibliothek der Universität
Konstanz, E-Mail: Anja.Kersting(at)uni-konstanz.de; Tel.: 07531/88-2475
Rubina Vock, Freien Universität Berlin, Center für Digitale Systeme,
E-Mail: Rubina.Vock(at)fu-berlin.de; Tel.: 030/838-52779
Project partners:
http://www.open-access.net/de/ueber_uns/projektpartner/
Editorial board:
http://www.open-access.net/de/ueber_uns/wissenschaftlicher_beirat/
Thanks to Friederike Glaab (translation)
Received on Thu May 03 2007 - 15:06:24 BST