PRESS Release

Leibniz institutes turn to Open Access journal publishing Workshop: “Successful Journal Management: Tapping into the Potential of Open Access”

Cologne, 22 February 2013 – The recently organised a work- shop in on the topic of Open Access. The goal of the workshop was to pro- vide information on journal publishing to Leibniz institutes interested in this topic and to encourage people to share their experiences. The two-day workshop was jointly organised by the German National Library of Medicine (ZB MED), the Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (ZBW) and Schloss – Leibniz Centre for Informatics, all of which are already involved in successful projects promoting the publication of open access journals.

The ZB MED, which is itself a member of the Leibniz Association, has been running its medical publication portal German Medical Science (gms) for the last 10 years. As an on- line portal for journals, conference proceedings and research reports, gms provides open access to high-ranking and quality-reviewed specialist medical texts. The ZB MED – Ger- many's national specialist library in the fields of medicine, health, nutrition, the environment and agriculture – has accumulated a wealth of experience in recent years as the operator of gms, and it was able to pass this information on to other Leibniz institutes during the Leibniz workshop. More than 40 participants attended the workshop which was entitled “Successful Journal Management: Tapping into the Potential of Open Access” (“Erfol- greiches Journal-Management: Potentiale durch Open Access”).

The participants confirmed that an increasing number of Leibniz institutes are choosing to release publications under Open Access guidelines. A total of 39 Open Access journals are currently published by various institutes of the Leibniz Association. Both the Leibniz Association and the ZB MED are enthusiastic supporters of this open exchange of re- search results. They believe that the fast and direct nature of Open Access increases re- search efficiency, supports international and interdisciplinary cooperation, boosts visibility and citation rates and maximises the benefits of publicly funded research.

Background information: The Leibniz Association The Leibniz Association unites 86 independent research institutes which cover a broad range of areas including general science, engineering, environmental science, economics, spatial studies, the social sciences and the humanities. Leibniz institutes address issues of social, economic and environmental relevance. They conduct knowledge-driven and ap- plied basic research, maintain scientific infrastructure and provide research-based servic- es. The Leibniz Association identifies focus areas for knowledge transfer to policy-makers, academia, business and the general public. Leibniz institutes collaborate closely with uni- versities – for example by developing thematic partnerships between university and non- university research institutions – as well as with industry and other partners both at home and abroad. They are subject to an independent evaluation procedure that is unparalleled in its transparency. Due to the importance of the institutes for the country as a whole, they are funded jointly by the German central government and the Länder, employing some 16,500 people, including 7,700 researchers. The entire budget of all the institutes is ap- proximately 1.4 billion euros.

Background information: The German National Library of Medicine (ZB MED) The ZB MED is an independent and non-partisan public institution. Since it was founded nearly 40 years ago, it has developed into the world's largest specialist library covering the combined fields of medicine, health, nutrition, the environment, and agriculture. Alongside its traditional role in the field of library services, the ZB MED is also actively engaged in a number of projects aimed at developing, publishing and promoting electronic literature, primary data and research results and facilitating access to these resources. The ZB MED's projects include the semantic search engines MEDPILOT and GREENPILOT. The Cologne and branches of the national library also promote free access to scientific literature („Open Access‟) through initiatives such as the German Medical Science (gms) portal. As a member of the Leibniz Association, the ZB MED helps provide the information infrastructure required for scientific research. It plays a major part in maintaining Germa- ny's status as a key player in the world of science and research. The Medical Department of the University and City Library of Cologne maintains organisational links with the ZB MED.

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