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Late 2023 and early 2024 saw the launch of three new projects aimed at addressing various aspects of openness in legal science and advancing the transformation to open access and open educational resources (OER) in that field: KidRewi (Kulturwandel in der Rechtswissenschaft [Cultural Change in Jurisprudence]) and OZUG (Offener Zugang zum Grundgesetz [Open Access to the Basic Law]) got underway in September 2023. They are funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the framework of its funding line for projects aimed at establishing a lived culture of open access. The project “VEStOR (Networking, Expansion, Strengthening of the OER Community OpenRewi)” began in early 2024. It too is supported by the BMBF, within the framework of the funding line for projects aimed at strengthening, expanding, and networking OER communities (OE_COM). In this blog post, we present the three projects.
Apart from their location in the field of legal science, the most obvious common denominator of the three projects is the fact that they are all funded by the BMBF. However, two different funding lines are represented, which reflects the differences in thematic focus. Whereas KidRewi and OZUG receive funding within the framework of BMBF’s funding for open access, VEStOR is one of a wide range of projects funded by the ministry as a measure for the implementation of its OER strategy. Personnel overlaps and links to both Leibniz University Hannover (LUH) and the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam (FHP), as well as connections to the community of practice OpenRewi, result in close exchange between the projects. This is something that all participants benefit from, but it is not a matter of course. At the joint kick-off of KidRewi and VEStOR, one BMBF representative remarked that she had never before experienced such close exchange between projects from different funding lines. After the kick-off, representatives of KidRewi and VEStOR agreed to meet once a month.
Whereas KidRewi and OZUG focus mainly on scholarly publications, VEStOR focuses on teaching and learning materials. However, the boundaries between open access publications and OER are fluid: key principles such as free access and, as far as possible, unrestricted reusability are common to both categories, and the application of a Creative Commons (CC) licence is the easiest way to make reuse as safe and simple as possible. Although OER can be found in almost all possible formats, text/PDF publications are represented in large numbers here, too. However, for various reasons, the OA and OER communities do not have close ties, and one desired outcome of the three projects is therefore increased exchange on this level, too.
Cultural Change in Jurisprudence – KidRewi
Stand-alone print publications such as monographs continue to be of central importance in jurisprudence. They are not only an integral part of legal education but also play an indispensable role in academic practice and the practical application of law. In addition, for legal scholars, the publication of their theses and dissertations with renowned publishers is of outstanding importance for their academic careers. This discipline-specific path dependency is just one reason why open and digital access to stand-alone legal publications has not been able to become widely established to date. This is where the project KidRewi comes into play, designing infrastructures and materials to support cultural change in jurisprudence.
The Project KidRewi
The acronym KidRewi stands for “Kulturwandel in der Rechtswissenschaft” (Cultural Change in Jurisprudence). The project focuses on stand-alone legal publications. By the end of the project term, it aims to develop a concept for an agile publication infrastructure that can be implemented in a next step. The conviction behind the project work is that the transformation towards more openness lies largely in the hands of legal scholars themselves. For this reason, both the needs assessment for the technical infrastructure and the OER materials to be created play a central role in the project. The aim is to avoid developing another infrastructure or further materials for the community without input from the community.
The interdisciplinary project team is based at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam under the leadership of Prof. Dr Ellen Euler and works closely with actors in the fields of jurisprudence and information science. These include Open Access Brandenburg, OpenRewi, and the Competence Network for Bibliometrics.
Importance for Legal Science
The project promotes reflection on the publication culture in legal science by addressing academics from all career stages who already have experience of publishing stand-alone legal literature. In essence, KidRewi thus aims to improve – and to increase the inclusivity of – access to legal literature in order to bring about sustainable improvement, especially in legal education.
Offener Zugang zum Grundgesetz [Open Access to the Basic Law] – OZUG
The Basic Law is the most popular and most important body of norms in the Federal Republic of Germany. As the German constitution, it is held in high esteem in the population and is not just the subject of jurisprudential reflection. It has been the normative basis of the major political conflicts in the Federal Republic since 1949 and is regularly the subject of nationwide interest in proceedings decided by the Federal Constitutional Court. As a constitutional body and the guardian of the interpretation of the constitution, the Federal Constitutional Court is held in high esteem among broad sections of the population. Nonetheless, more than 75 years after the Basic Law was passed, a commentary on the German constitution and the constitutional case law that shapes it is still not freely accessible to everyone on the Internet. Existing commentaries on the text that constitutes the Federal Republic are not available in open access. In the BMBF-funded project OZUG: Offener Zugang zum Grundgesetz [Open Access to the Basic Law], the body of knowledge on the Basic Law, the most important body of norms in the Federal Republic of Germany, is being transferred to open access. Under the leadership of Prof. Dr Nikolas Eisentraut (LUH and the German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies [DZHW]), a commentary on the Basic Law is being planned, written and published, the contents of which will be made freely accessible to everyone under an open licence on the Internet. In addition to Prof. Dr. Eisentraut, Prof. Dr Friederike Gebhard, Prof. Dr Hannah Ruschemeier, and Dr Jonas Botta are involved as editors. The commentary will be written by 73 authors, including the editors, and will be published in 2026 both as an open access commentary online and as a print edition.
Based on the realization of the commentary, a social science accompanying research project led by Prof. Dr Bernd Kleimann (DZHW) is examining from a sociology of professions and governance theory perspective what factors have stood in the way of the open access idea in legal science (up to now), and what conditions are considered adequate for participation in the commentary.
Networking, Expansion, Strengthening of the OER Community OpenRewi – VEStOR
Open educational resources (OER) are becoming increasingly important in the modern educational landscape. They promote free access to knowledge and support innovative teaching and learning methods. However, OER are still an exception, particularly in legal science. This is where VEStOR, a project dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of jurisprudential OER, comes into play.
What is VEStOR?
VEStOR (Vernetzung, Erweiterung, Stärkung der OER Community OpenRewi [Networking, Expansion, Strengthening the OER Community OpenRewi]) is a project aimed at expanding and strengthening OpenRewi, the only community for jurisprudential OER to date. OpenRewi was founded in 2020 to support decentralized, autonomous, and collaborative communities of practice (CoPs) in creating high-quality and openly licensed jurisprudential OER under one roof. VEStOR promotes networking with other OER communities and contributes to helping open legal science in Germany to achieve a breakthrough.
VEStOR is implemented as a joint project at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam (FHP) and Leibniz University Hannover (LUH) and is funded within the framework of the BMBF’s guidelines for funding projects to strengthen, expand, and network OER communities. Under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Ellen Euler, the FHP is focusing on the practical aspects of the expansion and strengthening of the community, including the professionalization of the organization, the expansion of infrastructure and service offerings, and the development of sustainable business models. The project team at the LUH under the leadership of Prof. Dr Nikolas Eisentraut is focusing on legal didactics research and the role of artificial intelligence in the creation and use of jurisprudential OER. It is supported by two doctoral positions.
Project Goals and Priority Areas
The main goal of VEStOR is to establish OpenRewi as a central, cross-university network for the publication of quality-assured jurisprudential OER. To achieve this goal, the project has set the following priorities:
- Expansion and strengthening of the community: development and professionalization of the organizational structure of OpenRewi to better support the community in creating and disseminating OER.
- Networking with other OER communities: promotion of cooperation with other OER initiatives to exploit synergies and increase the reach of OpenRewi.
- Legal didactics research: Examination of the didactical aspects of jurisprudential OER and the importance of artificial intelligence for OER in legal science.
- Development of sustainable business models: creation of financing models that enable the long-term provision and further development of OER.
- Scientific communication: development of a visual identity and communication strategy to make OER better known in legal science and to increase their acceptance.
Importance for legal science
The VEStOR project addresses the entire legal science community in Germany and aims to create an inclusive forum for open educational practices (OEP). By promoting and disseminating OER in legal science, it makes a broad-based contribution to the realization of an OER-conducive ecosystem in digital education.
VEStOR thus contributes not only to the improvement of OER but also to the networking and professionalization of the community. It promotes exchange and collaboration between different OER initiatives and strengthens the role of OER in legal education.
Outlook
The opportunities and synergy effects of the three above-mentioned projects are diverse (Ebert et al., 2022).1 Both legal teaching materials and manuals or commentaries are always related to a constantly changing body of norms. Laws are written, court rulings clarify or reject them. Here, the print-book format seems to be hopelessly antiquated. Its production is laborious and time consuming. As information in print books is not machine-readable, it can neither be easily linked nor easily found. In addition, (scholarly) books cost a lot of money: profit margins to which commercial publishers have become accustomed and which they continue in their online databases (shielded by copyright) – and that despite the fact the subject matter is so relevant to all sections of society. Breaking out of this system is very demanding, not least because legal science is a relatively conservative discipline whose members are reluctant to give up their cherished publication habits (Fischer, 2022).2 It is therefore all the more important that KidRewi, OZUG, and VEStOR focus on different aspects at the same time. Whereas KidRewi is thoroughly taking stock of the status quo and already considering possible alternatives, OZUG and VEStOR are creating positive examples and gaining valuable experience in the areas of commentary literature and legal teaching materials, respectively. Both projects are struggling with the current (and never perfect) publication infrastructure in the broader sense – that is, not only the concrete (hard- and) software packages used (Nextcloud, PubPub), but also and in particular the concrete practices of their application. Writing collaboratively online with (internal and external) peer-review is quite different from writing alone in a locally stored text file with a few subsequent comments from the editors (or – sometimes years later – the reviewers). If efforts to create other publication infrastructures in legal science are successful, the advantages would be manifold: better, more up-to-date literature for readers and richer experiences (e.g. more direct feedback) for authors. Just as it is taken for granted nowadays that statutes (and sometimes case law) are freely accessible on the Internet, it should soon also be a matter of course that they are explained and discussed in a publicly accessible way.
1 https://www.nomos-elibrary.de/10.5771/2699-1284-2022-1-50/offene-rechtswissenschaft-chancen-einer-open-science-transformation-volume-3-2022-issue-1?page=1
2 https://www.nomos-elibrary.de/10.5771/2699-1284-2022-1-19/im-ringen-um-erkenntnis-und-anerkennung-wie-rechtswissenschaftler-innen-das-eigene-akademische-publizieren-im-zuge-von-open-access-sehen-volume-3-2022-issue-1?page=1
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