1. Activities of the Max Planck Society
Open Access
Activities of the Max Planck Society
Georg Botz
Senior Advisor Open Access Policy, Max Planck Society

2. Berlin Declaration on Open Access
„Our mission of disseminating knowledge is only half complete if the information is not made widely and readily available to society.“
Making its scientists’ research findings available for the benefit of the whole of humanity is a key aspiration of the Max Planck Society.
But academic publishing is still out of step with the public use of the Internet, with its increasing emphasis on freely accessible information.
This was the spirit out of which the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities was initiated in It strengthened the Open Access Movement in Germany, in Europe, and across the globe.
Together with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (February 2002) and the Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing (June 2003), it is seen as a milestone in the development of the international Open Access movement.
Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities ( )
M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | Georg Botz, Open Access Policy, | PAGE 2

3. Berlin Declaration
496 organisations from more than 70 countries have sigend the Berlin Declaration
The Berlin Declaration strengthened the Open Access Movement in Germany, in Europe, and across the globe.
As of December 1, 2014, 496 organisations from 75 countries have sigend the Berlin Declaration.
Among the sigantories are well know and famous institutions like Harvard University, Yad Vashem, or the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | Georg Botz, Open Access Policy, | PAGE 3

4. Open Access: Two Basic Goals
All research builds on former work and depends on the possibilities for scientists to access and share scientific information. Open Access is about accessibility, and about the possibility to re-use scientific information in other contexts without financial, technical or legal barriers
There are two basic goals for OA:
First, to make research results freely available online without cost (through shared digital repositories or open access journals).
Second, to make research reusable by promoting the use of open licenses—ensuring that the public can not only read existing works, but can also pick apart the research and build upon it.
Open Access to the results of publicly funded research (scientific publications and research data as well) will have huge benefits for the research community, for industry, and for the public.
The right to re-use is the right to create new value
M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | Georg Botz, Open Access Policy, | PAGE 4

5. Scholarly Benefits of Open Access
Greater visibility of research results
Improved refereeing processes
A revolution in scientific search and information retrieval
Set up of expert systems
Innovative new information services
some of them commercial
Fostering interdisciplinary research by broadening access
Providing access to non-research interests
SMEs, community professionals, education
Advantages of an Open Access world
(for the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft and beyond)
Open Access to the results of publicly funded research (scientific publications and research data as well) will have huge benefits for the research community, for industry, and for the public.
Once open access is the rule rather than the exception, we expect that there will be many important benefits to research, including
A revolution in scientific search and information retrieval. Open Access will stimulate the development of new and more powerful search strategies (e.g. indexing, linking, text mining), based on machine intelligence and not just keyword associations. This will apply not only to publications but to the underlying data as well.
Strong boost for interdisciplinary research and international collaboration. In­terdisciplinary research and collaboration are being strongly encour­aged by research funders. Today, scholars complain about the increas­ing specialization of research. In an Open Access world journals are ex­pected to become wider in scope and search engines will help scholars to bring together relevant literature across all fields. Open Access facili­tates the exchange with research communities in developing countries.
Society is losing chances for innovation, and researchers are losing opportunities for spin-offs and commercialization, because it is difficult to gain full access to the research literature. Other disadvantaged sectors of society in­clude professionals who can use scholarly information in their work: doctors, lawyers, teachers, practicing psychologists, and many more.
M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | Georg Botz, Open Access Policy, | PAGE 5

6. Study of Open Access Publishing (2009-2011)
Do you think your research field benefits, or would benefit from journals that publish Open Access articles?
The SOAP (Study of Open Access Publishing) project has run a large-­scale survey of the attitudes of researchers on, and the experiences with, open access publishing.
Around forty thousands answers were collected across disciplines and around the world, showing an overwhelming support for the idea of open access, while highlighting funding and (perceived) quality as the main barriers to publishing in open access journals.
Yes 89,0%
No 3,7%
no opinion 6,3%
I do not care 1,0%
M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | Georg Botz, Open Access Policy, | PAGE 6

7. Academics write for impact rather than money
Impact = Re-use = Application = Education = Engagement = Citation
How do you maximise reach?
Set the default to Open Access!
We want to see scholarship used.
In the right places, at the right time
We want scholarship to be re-used and re-usable
(C. Neylon, Berlin 10)
It’s not about where you publish, but who you reach
M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | Georg Botz, Open Access Policy, | PAGE 7

8. Green OA delivered by repositories Gold OA delivered by journals
Colours of Open Access
Green OA delivered by repositories
‘self-archiving’
Gold OA delivered by journals
‘Open Access publishing’
MPG likewise supports the green and the gold road to Open Access
M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | Georg Botz, Open Access Policy, | PAGE 8

9. Green OA delivered by repositories Gold OA delivered by journals
Colours of Open Access
Green OA delivered by repositories
‘self-archiving’
Gold OA delivered by journals
‘Open Access publishing’
The quality and reputation of a journal is still by far the most important factor for an author when choosing where to be published.
For more than a decade now, the Max Planck Society has followed a centralized support scheme for APC payments. The rationale behind is to remove any administrative burden (getting invoice processed etc.) from the authors.
Licenses and Open Access publication charge agreements are negotiated, administered and monitored by one single service unit (MPDL).
MPG likewise supports the green and the gold road to Open Access
M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | Georg Botz, Open Access Policy, | PAGE 9

10. Rules of Good Scientific Practice
Internal Regulations
Rules of Good Scientific Practice
Regulations governing the publication of results
research results achieved with public funds should be made freely available wherever possible.
Rules for Scientific Advisory Boards
OA has to be addressed in the institute’s status report
description of efforts to promote unrestricted and long-term access to research findings, e.g., the repository of the Max Planck Society, own open-access archives, open access journals, etc.
„Our mission of disseminating knowledge is only half complete if the information is not made widely and readily available to society.“
Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003)
OA is already implemented in the rules governing the MPG
M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | Georg Botz, Open Access Policy, | PAGE 10

11. Max-Planck-Gesellschaft: Committed to Open Access
Berlin Declaration and Conference Series
Advocay, strategy development, and cooperation with partner organisations
Alliance; Science Europe; GRC
Open Access „Green“
Max Planck Institutional Repostitory
Open Access „Gold“
Central budget to cover OA publication charges
New OA Journals
Internal regulations
The Max Planck Society is committed to persistently support Open Access on all levels.
But a decade after the Berlin Declaration I had the feeling that something was missing.
Maybe it’s better to say: someone was missing.
You, the younger academic generation, are used to and expect free, Internet-available information.
You feel more immediately than many of the more senior researchers that academic publishing is still not realizing its potential relevance for society.
M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | Georg Botz, Open Access Policy, | PAGE 11

12. The Next Generation
Therefore I proposed organising a “satellite” conference the day before last year’s Berlin Open Access conference which marked the 10th anniversary of the Berlin Declaration.
The purpose of these meetings is to foster the engagement of the next generation of scholars as agents for change in scholarly communication.
We acknowledge the challenges early-career researchers face from a scholarly publishing system in transition. But we are convinced that it is crucial to foster the engagement of students and early career researchers in order to overcome the inertia of today’s deficient, restrictive and outgrown scholarly publishing system.
M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | Georg Botz, Open Access Policy, | PAGE 12

13. Support other scientists Best practice: Leading by example!
What Can You Do?
“Establishing open access as a worthwhile procedure ideally requires the active commitment of each and every individual producer of scientific knowledge and holder of cultural heritage.”
(Berlin Declaration)
Advocate
Know your rights
Support other scientists
Best practice: Leading by example!
A fundamental premise of the Berlin Declaration is that Open Access is a responsibility of research performing organisations and research funding organisations, and that the publication and dissemination of research results are integral parts of the research process.
But what can you do as individual early career researchers?
Become an OA ambassador!
“It is time to return control of scholarly publishing
to the scholars.”
M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | Georg Botz, Open Access Policy, | PAGE 13