In its first funding phase, open-access.network established a central information and networking service for Open Access - free access to scientific information. In the second funding period, which is now starting, the project is implementing numerous measures to promote the Open Access transformation. To this end, the project aims, on the one hand, to increase the acceptance of the transformation to an open publication system in science, business, politics and the public. On the other hand, open-access.network aims at the further training of central actors for a successful Open Access transformation as well as their networking among each other. The BMBF is funding the project from January 2023 to December 2025.

Using experience to support the implementation of the Open Access transformation

The open-access.network portal has achieved a high level of awareness and trust in the OA community. The project is using this wide reach in its ongoing activities to reach out to all potential stakeholders for OA transformation through intensive information work. It relies on a mix of proven formats and new offerings: The successful online training and networking formats will be continued and expanded to include new topics related to OA transformation. New developments include the networking offering oa.hub for OA projects, which also increases their visibility. In addition, open-access.network is building a new service, the oa.blog, which provides a high-reach publication venue and important addition to the current information offering.

In addition, the project is developing new certified self-study courses for beginners and professionals, strengthening cooperation with professional societies and universities of applied science in addressing the target group, and developing best practices for new approaches to open-access financing. In this way, open-access.network addresses scientists in particular, but also management levels at scientific institutions and political actors at the level of the federal states. The second phase of the project will also focus on stabilizing the services and ensuring the sustainable operation of the portal.

The successful cooperation partnership continues

In addition to the successful relaunch of the open-access.network website, which has been enriched with numerous freely reusable information materials, the establishment of comprehensive services is one of the most important milestones of the first phase of the project. For example, a helpdesk offers well-founded answers to individual questions on the subject of open access. The oa.atlas, currently only available as a German beta version, maps strategies and services related to OA at German universities and research institutions and is accompanied by a compact brochure. Effective help in finding a suitable publication venue is provided by the online research tool oa.finder.

Against this background, the six participating institutions, which have extensive and diverse expertise in providing information, building competence and networking on OA, are continuing their successful work under the leadership of the KIM at the University of Konstanz. Other project partners include the German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB) in Hanover, the Göttingen State and University Library, the Helmholtz Open Science Office based at the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam - German Research Centre for Geosciences, the Open-Access-Büro Berlin at Freie Universität Berlin, and Bielefeld University Library.