Academic publishing at the University of Regensburg

An open access publication significantly increases the visibility of research results, as it makes them findable worldwide via search engines and accessible free of charge. This makes the scientific communication process more efficient and promotes both interdisciplinary and international collaboration; for publishers, it often also means higher citation rates.

In addition, an open access publication guarantees the permanent availability of research results. They are reliably stored in institutional or specialised repositories and can be found in the long term thanks to persistent identifiers.

Another important aspect of open access publications is that the rights of use can remain with the authors. Unlike conventional publications, these rights do not always have to be transferred to a publisher.

Last but not least, open access publications favour the acceptance of science by the general public. They also make research results available to interested laypersons and make the use of taxpayers' money transparent.

Further information on Open Access can be found at the Open Access Network (external link, opens in a new window). Please also note the general information provided by the University of Regensburg on copyright in research and teaching (external link, opens in a new window).

The first publication of research results in the open access model, for example in a journal or on a repository, is referred to as the golden road to open access.

• As a rule, the publication is placed under a Creative Commons licence. Unlike a conventional publication contract, such a licence allows you to reuse your research results, for example as part of an anthology, in the context of teaching or as a secondary publication on a repository (see below). This also makes it easier for other researchers to access your results and work with them – of course with reference to your authorship.
• The costs of an open access publication are either borne by the publishers themselves or by the publication service provider. The University of Regensburg enables its researchers to publish open access publications free of charge via the publication server and offers you support from UR Publishing Services. If you publish via a publisher, a grant towards the publication costs is possible if further requirements are met.

The Green Road to Open Access refers to the secondary publication (self-archiving) of research results that were initially published by a conventional publisher.

• This procedure is suitable if a conventional publication is required or desired, but the advantages of an Open Access publication, such as worldwide discoverability, easy accessibility, improved utilisation possibilities, statistically higher citation rates and reliable long-term archiving, should still come into play. We have summarised the legal options for you.
• Our publication server is available to researchers at the University of Regensburg for secondary publications. Send us your preprint or postprint and we will check the right to secondary publication on the publication server for you. If a secondary publication is not possible, you can also add the metadata of your work to the publication server without depositing full texts. This means that your work is visible and you can easily create a complete list of publications.

The University of Regensburg has been pursuing an open access policy (opens in a new window). (This PDF is not accessible) since 2011 - one of the first in Germany to do so. Within a few years, the concept became a cornerstone of the research culture at the University of Regensburg.

As part of the Open Access Lunch (external link, opens in a new window) lecture series, renowned experts from the Open Access movement were guests at the University of Regensburg from 2012 to 2018 to provide information on various aspects of publishing in the Open Access model. The documents for these lectures are permanently available for re-use in line with the open access concept.

Today, the University of Regensburg supports Open Access publications by its researchers with the publication server, a publication fund and the UR Publishing Services in terms of ideas, organisation and funding.

Guidelines for DFG-funded projects

The idea of Open Access is firmly anchored in the utilisation guidelines (external link, opens in a new window) of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), which are part of every DFG-funded project approval:

• Research results funded by the DFG should also be published digitally wherever possible and made available free of charge on the Internet (Open Access). The articles should, for example, be made available in institutional repositories (publication servers) or by publication in peer-reviewed or renowned open access journals.
• Researchers should ensure that they permanently reserve a non-exclusive exploitation right for free electronic publication in publishing contracts. If necessary, waiting periods (6-12months) can be agreed, after which publication in electronic repositories is permitted.
• Articles published as Open Access documents should contain a reference to the support of the German Research Foundation.

Publication server

With the publication server, the University of Regensburg offers an institutional repository where research results can be made freely accessible and permanently archived. By making research results from DFG-funded projects available on the publication server, the DFG guidelines are fulfilled. The University Library will be happy to provide you with confirmation of compliance with the DFG guidelines at any time.

Publication Fund

As part of the DFG programmes Open Access Publishing and Open Access Publication Costs, the University of Regensburg was able to raise funds to set up a fund to finance publication fees. We use this fund to support academics who publish in Open Access journals with the payment of article processing charges. DFG-funded publications must include the DFG project number as a reference to DFG support. Find out more on our website about the assumption of publication costs.

Further information can be found on the DFG's Open Access pages (external link, opens in a new window).

Open access is of great importance to the scientific community worldwide. The vision of a comprehensive and freely accessible representation of knowledge was formulated back in 2003 in the Berlin Declaration (external link, opens in a new window). Today, with the Stockholm Declaration (external link, opens in a new window), the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is appealing to the scientific and political communities to take responsibility in the face of the current crisis in scientific publishing.

The medium in which scientific findings are published plays a significant role in their reception. The place of publication influences the quality and relevance attributed to research findings from the outset. However, the growing market for scientific publications makes it a challenge to maintain an overview of the quality standards of different journals, even in one's own discipline.

Predatory publishers exploit this confusing situation and the high pressure to publish in the academic world: They offer publications in journals that appear to be scientific but do not meet professional standards. Those who publish here not only pay publication fees without receiving anything worth mentioning in return, but in the worst case also jeopardise their academic reputation. If, for example, peer review procedures are only faked, the questionable quality of other articles in the same medium can fuel doubts about publications that are themselves in line with good scientific practice.

Before you publish in a journal for the first time, we therefore recommend to you discuss your experiences with your peers. The publications team at the University Library, too, will be happy to assist you with its many years of interdisciplinary experience. The following websites also offer guidance:

In the academic world, publications are both a business card and currency. However, it can be difficult to reliably link one's own research results with one's person: Changes of institution or names in the course of an academic career make it difficult to attribute publications in the long term; if other researchers have the same or similar names, there is a risk of confusion.

ORCID (external link, opens in a new window) makes it possible to uniquely identify researchers and link them to their scientific output. The Open Researcher and Contributor ID is a persistent, universally applicable and interoperable character code that is issued free of charge by a non-profit scientific organisation. It has established itself internationally as the de facto standard for the identification of scientific authors and is also supported by the University of Regensburg. In our guide to using ORCID (external link, opens in a new window), you can find out how to register with ORCID and use the system in your daily academic work.

In order to increase the visibility and perception of scientific research at the University of Regensburg, the UR has issued a publication guideline (opens in a new window). (This PDF is not accessible). It serves to clearly identify members of the UR in scientific and non-scientific communication.

A central aspect of good scientific practice is the permanent availability of research results.

As an institutional repository, the Publication Server of the University Library ensures the permanent availability of the publications entrusted to it in accordance with the Preservation Policy (external link, opens in a new window) of the University Library.

As a co-operation partner of Langzeitverfügbarkeit Bayern (external link, opens in a new window), the University Library enables the permanent availability of scientific and cultural data.

If you do not wish your dissertation to be made available electronically, you can also have only a specified, but usually very high number of deposit copies printed and submitted to your faculty. In this case, however, you can expect a relatively low dissemination of your research results and high costs for printing.

If you are unsure whether this publication method is the right one for you, please contact the publications team at the University Library for advice.