Last summer, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) published new funding guidelines designed to support the transformation of the scientific publishing system towards Open Access (see our news New funding for OA transformation). Within this framework, funding is provided for the implementation of innovative projects that sustainably advance Open Access as the new standard for scientific publishing. Small and medium-sized publishers, universities, and libraries from all over Germany have applied for funding with their projects. From the project proposals submitted, 20 were selected and are now launching their projects. According to the BMBF, these are projects that publish established series of publications via open access, redesign publishing processes in the publishing industry or sustainably improve the open access ecosystem. "They are further developing existing structures, programming new digital tools and establishing efficient workflows - all with the common goal of advancing the publication culture toward open access," the BMBF website states.
The 20 projects funded are:
- CODRIA – Community-Driven Open Access journals between scientific and resource requirements (Universität Bielefeld)
- TOAA – Transformational Open Access Approaches: Open Library Media Studies, "Best Performers" in Open Access, textbooks in Open Access (transcript)
- PrePrintPlus – Quality assurance procedures for preprint contributions in science (FZI Forschungszentrum Informatik)
- AuROA – Author and legal certainty for Open Access (Universität Duisburg-Essen - Universitätsbibliothek | IST Hochschule für Management Düsseldorf | Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz)
- OATbyCO – Open Access transformation by cooperation (Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek der TU Darmstadt | Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft)
- OS-APS– Development of an Open Source Academic Publishing Suite and its application at the university publishing houses and libraries in Erlangen-Nuremberg and Halle (SciFlow GmbH | Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) | Martin-Luther Universität Halle-Wittenberg (MLU))
- TransMill – Series transformation for ancient studies (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek)
- TU9_Monos – Establishment of sustainable Open Access publication services for monographs in the TU9 network (Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT) | Universität Stuttgart)
- OPEN4DE – Status and perspectives of an Open Access Strategy for Germany (Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen (SUB) | Freie Universität Berlin | Universität Konstanz)
- OPTIMETA– Strengthening the Open Access publishing system through open citations and spatiotemporal metadata (Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB) | Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster)
- Wallstein-OA – Conversion of the yearbooks of the German Schiller Society and the Freies Deutsches Hochstift to Open Access (parallel to print edition) (Wallstein Verlag)
- B!SON– Bibliometric and Semantic Open Access Recommender Network (Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB) | Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden (SLUB))
- OAPEnz – Open Access publication of encyclopedic handbooks (Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Medizin (ZB MED) - Informationszentrum Lebenswissenschaften | Verlag Barbara Budrich GmbH)
- ScholarLedPlus – Sustainable journal funding through consortial support structures in small and interdisciplinary subject contexts (Alexander von Humboldt Institut für Internet und Gesellschaft gGmbH | Knowledge Unlatched GmbH)
- KOALA– Build consortial Open access solutions (Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB) | Universität Konstanz)
- OA-STRUKTKOMM – Development of technological elements of a general communication structure for OA publication processes based on the general workflow model (Hochschule für Technik, Wirtschaft und Kultur Leipzig)
- OAdine – Enabling discipline-oriented Open Access on a sustainable basis (wbv Media GmbH)
- OA-META – Development of an open interface tool for the enrichment and management of OA textbook metadata (ScienceOpen GmbH)
- OZAR – Open access to public law (Max Steinbeis Verfassungsblog)
Detailed information about the projects can be found here:
https://www.bildung-forschung.digital/de/projektstart-20-ideen-fuer-die-transformation-zu-open-access-3660.html