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German research ministry demands open access

<ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ class="standfirst">Federally funded research will now come with an open access clause ¨C but uncertainties remain
September 21, 2016
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Source: Alamy

All research funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) , it has been announced, but the strategy does not go as far as open access advocates would like. ?

The new policy means that BMBF-funded research will come with an open access clause, although scholars will still be able to publish in closed journals and make their work open after an embargo period.

This mirrors the situation in the UK, where researchers will be expected to make their work open access to be included in the research excellence framework, the UK¡¯s periodic review of research quality. However, closed journals can still set embargo periods, delaying open access. ?

Marco Tullney, an open access expert at the German National Library of Science and Technology, said that the ministry was being ¡°careful¡± in rolling out open access.

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Other organisations, such as the Fraunhofer Institutes for applied research, were moving ¡°much faster¡±, he said, ¡°by defining goals for the open access share of their researchers' publications. BMBF are not saying...when they want the change to open access to be complete.¡±

¡°The German government and this ministry has taken a long time to finalise this strategy ¨C they had announced it when forming this coalition government a few years ago,¡± he added.

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¡°Compared to open access strategies of, for example, UK, Denmark, Netherlands this is far from being innovative and defining new goals,¡± he said.

This year, the BMBF (?4.72 billion) of research funding to universities across Germany.

david.matthews@tesglobal.com

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<ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ class="pane-title"> Reader's comments (1)
Open access attempts in the past in Linux, software, Wiki, etc., helped the scholars through fast dissemination and large participation in knowledge building, sharing .Removing geographic bounds is also worth considering.Any journal that can afford now should give open access.World Association of Open Access Knowledge sources should form to generate funds that are sure to build from those who can favour it.It is very likely accelerator of knowledge sharing. -Akella S R Murty
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