The Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR) is funding the Germany-wide joint project open-access.network for another three years. The project will continue to be managed by the Communication, Information, Media Center (KIM) at the University of Konstanz. The renewed funding will be on a smaller scale and with decreasing funding, with the aim of ensuring the continued existence of the open-access.network platform in cooperation with the association and the participating institutions.
Successful groundwork and expansion of services in the first two funding phases
In the first two funding phases, open-access.network established and significantly expanded a central information, service, and networking infrastructure for open access (OA). The impact of the project work to date can also be seen in the reach of the portal: with an average of around 500 unique visits per day, open-access.network has become a central information and exchange hub for the open access community and supports the open access transformation through reliable content, training opportunities, and networking—even beyond the D-A-CH region and Europe. Another particular success is the increased involvement of the community: other scientific institutions are now actively participating in oa.helpdesk, strengthening the nationwide advisory structure with their expertise. The project has also succeeded in establishing the oa.blog as a sustainable service and activating the community for it: experts from various institutions are now responsible for the majority of the contributions, while the project takes care of editorial coordination and quality assurance.
Other measures implemented include:
- The establishment of a wide range of online training courses, workshops, and networking formats for scientists.
- The introduction of the oa.hub networking service for open access projects.
- The development of certified self-study courses for different target groups.
- Cooperation with professional associations and universities to address specific target groups.
- The development of best practices for the further development of new open access financing models.
- The expansion of services such as oa.finder and oa.atlas.
In addition, a further measure to establish the sustainable operation of open-access.network and its services was implemented with the founding of the association of the same name.
New focus of the third funding phase
In the third funding phase, which is now beginning, open-access.network is building on these successes and focusing on deepening, further developing, and securing the nationwide open access infrastructure in the long term. The main priorities are:
- Strengthening community building and knowledge exchange within the open access landscape.
- Further developing existing tools, information offerings, and training formats.
- Providing strategic support for current challenges in the open access transformation.
- Sustainably integrating offerings into existing structures in the scientific landscape.
- These measures are intended to stabilize and further accelerate the OA transformation in Germany in the long term.
Continuity in successful cooperation
The proven cooperation partnership will continue in the third project phase from 2026 to 2028. The following institutions will continue to work together:
- Communication, Information, Media Center (KIM) at the University of Konstanz
- Technische Informationsbibliothek (Technical Information Library – TIB), Hanover
- State and University Library Göttingen (SUB Göttingen)
- Helmholtz Open Science Office
- Open Research Office Berlin (Freie Universität Berlin)
All partners contribute their diverse expertise in information infrastructure, competence development, and networking, and work together to further anchor open access in the publishing landscape.