Information platform open-access.net now online!

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 was 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 
<http://oa.mpg.de/openaccess-berlin/berlindeclaration.html>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. 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 “News” 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.





Further Information

Website platform: <http://www.open-access.net>www.open-access.net



Project leader:

Dr. Norbert Lossau (Director of the State and University Library Goettingen)

E-mail: norbert.lossau(at)sub.uni-goettingen.de

Tel.:
[]
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0049-(0)551/39-5212
[]
.



Project coordination:

Anja Kersting (Library of the University of Konstanz)

E-Mail: Anja.Kersting(at)uni-konstanz.de

Tel.:
[]
[]
0049-(0)7531/88-2475
[]




Rubina Vock (Center for Digital Systems, Free University of Berlin)

E-Mail: Rubina.Vock(at)fu-berlin.de

Tel.:
[]
[]
0049-(0)30/838-52779
[]





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Anja Kersting
Universität Konstanz - Bibliothek
Projekt Open Access
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Raum B 906
Universitätsstraße 10
78457 Konstanz
Tel.:  07531/88-2475
Fax:  07531/88-3082
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
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Informationsplattform Open Access:
http://www.open-access.net