German Research Foundation promotes open access publishing
Researchers are to gain access to information on opportunities for publishing their research via open access thanks to a newly launched platform funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The DFG developed the open access platform, in the interest of research institutions, higher education institutions, libraries and publishers, to provide them with relevant information on publication strategies, costs, and legal aspects. Open access means that scientific publications and data are accessible online, free-of-charge, for any interested user. The project is the brainchild of the universities of Bielefeld, Göttingen and Constance and the Free University of Berlin, who are pioneers of the open access movement in Germany. The website is also supported by the Alliance of German Science Organisations and the German Initiative for Network Information (DINI). The DFG is an advocate of open access publishing, and believes in visible, worldwide and free-of-charge access to the results of publicly funded research. In its statement, the Foundation says: '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.' The foundation encourages all the scientists that have received funding from it to publish their research results via open access, either in institutional electronic archives (repositories) following print publication, or in recognised peer-reviewed open access journals.
Countries
Germany