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Open Access & Publishing – Funding, Visibility and Open Access to Scientific Results

You would like to publish your research results via the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam? Do you have questions about open access publishing?
Here you will find information worth knowing about the topic of open access, publication options and strategies, and tools for finding free online resources.

All Offers at a Glance

Open Access Support – University of Applied Sciences Potsdam

The University of Applied Sciences Potsdam has adopted the "Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities". and was the first university in the state of Brandenburg to sign the "San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA)".

Open Access Support - University of Applied Sciences Potsdam

Open Access Funding – Library

Publishing agreements and other support tools will help you to publish openly.

Open Access Funding - Library

Finding Open Access Journals

We can help you find and check suitable open access journals.

OA journals

Publication Server OPUS

Publish your research results via our OPUS server!

OPUS

Useful Information for Authors

We have put together some tips for you that can help you with your publication.

Author tips

Free Online Resources

Find freely available publications for your scientific work!

Research

Open Access Funding – Library

Open Access stands for unhindered and free access to scientific information on the internet with the aim of a fast and sustainable dissemination of research results.

We are also happy to advise you, together with the research service on how to apply for publication funds for Open Access in the context of your applications for third-party funding.

DEAL Project
German universities and research institutions, represented in the Alliance of German Science Organisations, have jointly launched the DEAL project. The DEAL contracts rededicate collective library spending on journal subscriptions, thereby giving scientists in Germany the opportunity to retain all rights to their work, the freedom to publish in the journals of their choice, and the necessary means to do so in the open access way, so that they receive maximum global visibility and impact for their research.

Since 01.01.2020, the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam has been participating in a DEAL contract with the publisher Springer Nature. Retroactive to the year of publication 1997, this enables permanent access to the current journal volumes of the contract period of all approximately 2000 journals.

Since 2020, all corresponding authors of the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences can publish Open Access in a large number of journals of the publisher within the framework of the contract agreement. Please ensure that the affiliation is correctly stated when submitting.

Since 01.01.2019, the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam has a DEAL contract with the publisher Wiley. This agreement provides access to approximately 1,700 journals.

All corresponding authors of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam can publish in a large number of journals of the publisher Wiley within the framework of the contract. Please note the correct affiliation here as well.

The Potsdam University of Applied Sciences participates in an open access transformation framework agreement for the PsyJOURNALS published by Hogrefe. Please contact us if you have any questions.

The University of Applied Sciences Potsdam is participating in an open access transformation contract for the entire "HSS" (Humanities and Social Sciences) portfolio at De Gruyter and enables authors from the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam to publish in selected De Gruyter journals free of charge as corresponding author in open access. The contract period is limited to 2022.

Die Fachhochschule Potsdam nimmt an einem Open-Access-Transformationsvertrag mit dem Verlag Taylor & Francis teil. Dieser ermöglicht Autor*innen der Fachhochschule Potsdam als corresponding author die kostenlose Publikation von Open-Access-Artikeln in allen hybriden Zeitschriften. Auf Veröffentlichungen in reinen Open-Access-Journals von Taylor & Francis erhalten FHP-Autor*innen zudem 15% Rabatt auf die Artikelgebühren. Der Vertrag wurde zunächst für 3 Jahre verhandelt, von 2024 bis 2026.

If you are planning to publish a monograph, as a member of the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences you can apply for reimbursement of the open access publication costs from the Publication Fund for Open Access Monographs of the State of Brandenburg. The publication fund is provided by the Ministry of Science, Research and Culture of the State of Brandenburg (MWFK) and coordinated by the team of the Networking and Competence Centre Open Access Brandenburg. The funding instrument is endowed with 100,000 euros per year for the years 2021 to 2023.

Open Access Support – University of Applied Sciences Potsdam

In January 2023, the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam signed the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities. The Berlin Declaration from 2003 is considered one of the most important cornerstones for the Open Access movement. At the same time, Potsdam UAS was the first university in the state of Brandenburg to sign the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA).

The signatures of the Berlin Declaration and the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment were supported by the Brandenburg Networking and Competence Centre for Open Access (VuK), which is located at the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences in the Department of Information Sciences. The VuK supports Brandenburg 's higher education institutions in implementing the state's Open Access strategy.

By signing the two agreements, the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam undertakes, among other things, to support academics in publishing in Open Access and to give special recognition to Open Access publications when assessing academic achievements. It thus supports the cultural change towards more openness.

 

  • Scientific publications are to be made accessible without restriction, thus making publicly funded research available to the general public in the process of digital transformation.
  • The Internet is to be promoted as an instrument for a worldwide basis of scientific knowledge and human reflection, and the necessary measures are to be formulated for consideration by decision-makers, research organisations, funding institutions, libraries, archives and museums.
  • In addition to conventional methods, the new possibilities of disseminating knowledge via the internet according to the principle of open access (open access paradigm) must increasingly be promoted.
  • The signatory institutions of the Berlin Declaration define open access or 'OA' as a comprehensive source of human knowledge and cultural heritage endorsed by the scientific community.
  • The vision of a comprehensive and freely accessible representation of knowledge can only be realised if the internet of the future is characterised by sustainability, interactivity and transparency. Content and software must be openly accessible and compatible.

Berlin Declaration (English)

  • One of DORA's goals is to highlight the value of open access publications for scientific CVs.
  • DORA opposes the excessive weighting of quantitative parameters such as the journal impact factor in the assessment of scientific achievements.
  • By signing DORA, the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam advocates an assessment practice that focuses on professional quality and impact on science and society while appreciating all facets of scientific output.

San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment

B!SON Project (Beta)

Within the framework of the B!SON project, a recommendation service for quality-assured open access journals was realised. After entering the title, abstract and/or references of a manuscript, the system suggests a list of suitable OA journals that can serve as a decision-making aid for you as an author. This service is currently in the beta phase.

B!SON project

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)

The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) currently lists 17,494 journals and the search can also be filtered by subject and other criteria.

Directory of Open Access Journals

Publication Server OPUS

The library operates the publication server (OPUS), where members of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam can publish, reference and research their academic publications.

Before publishing a document on the OPUS server, please make sure that you are authorised to do so. Generally, you are authorised if you are the author of the document yourself and have not given exclusive rights to third parties. If you have published your publication in parallel with a publisher or plan to do so, make sure that the publisher allows parallel publication on a document server. Further information on the publication process via OPUS can also be found in the FAQ.

Find Freely Available Publications

The search for scientific publications often ends at a pay barrier or paywall. Yet there are many ways to search for freely available resources without paying or entering legal grey areas. Below we list a few ways to search for online resources. You can also find more freely available resources in the Moodle online course for self-study for university members of the FH Potsdam.

Directory of Open Access Books

The Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) is a catalogue of openly accessible quality-checked monographs. At the same time, it is also a directory of open access publishers. Currently, around 49,696 books from 693 publishers are listed (as of February 2022).

Directory of Open Access Books

Directory of Open Access Journals

The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is the most important overview of high-quality peer-reviewed open access journals. Currently, over 17,494 journals are listed and over 7 million articles are indexed (as of February 2022).

Directory of Open Access Journals

Unpaywall

The free Unpaywall plugin, available for the Chrome and Firefox internet browsers, directs you to freely available versions, even outside university networks.

After installation, the plugin indicates whether there is an open access version of your found document by a small lock symbol on the right side of the screen. A green lock means that there is an openly licensed version of the document, which you can access by clicking on the icon. If there is no Open Access version, the lock remains greyed out.

Unpaywall

Bielefeld Academic Search Engine

The BASE search engine is one of the world's largest search engines for scholarly web documents, tracking over 100 million open access documents.

BASE search engine

Useful Information for Authors

In the following, we have compiled some useful tips for you that can support you in your publication and in fulfilling and exercising your authorial duties and rights.

We would like to ask you to adhere to the"Statutes for Safeguarding Good Scientific Practice and Dealing with Scientific Misconduct at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam" (28.07.2022) and the"Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Scientific Practice" code written by the German Research Foundation (DFG) (01.07.2019) when preparing a scientific publication.

For works published after 01.01.2014, the right of secondary publication under Section 38 (4) of the Copyright Act (UrhG) applies. According to this, many journal articles may be republished twelve months after the first publication. Only the so-called "accepted manuscript" (version after scientific peer review) may be used for this purpose. This right applies to authors at universities whose work was at least half financed by public project funding.

If this does not apply to your publication, please note the following:

  • According to Section 38(1) of the Copyright Act, authors may publish their work elsewhere one year after publication in a periodically published collection (journal, anthology, etc.), unless otherwise agreed.
  • Secondary publication is possible without restriction and immediately if you have only granted the publisher a simple right of use or have expressly reserved the right to parallel publication.

The term "predatory publishing" refers to negative phenomena in the scientific publication and communication system. Predatory journals are journals that use aggressive advertising and a professional appearance to invite researchers to publish articles in return for a publication fee, but do not provide the expected editorial and publishing services. Quality control through peer review is merely feigned.

How can you protect yourself?

Deciding which journal to publish in should always be a considered and informed decision, especially if you have little knowledge of the journal. The initiative"Think Check Submit", which is supported by publishing and library associations, provides researchers with a helpful checklist that can be used to check the trustworthiness and seriousness of a scientific journal.

Contact

Miriam Zeunert
Employee Open Access and Research Data Management