Research findings must be verifiable. That’s why they are published, forming the foundation for new discoveries based on them. This is how progress is achieved. Open access publications ensure maximum dissemination and unrestricted access. In order to prepare young scientists in particular for working with open access platforms, Ulm University is also offering a series of events for doctoral students and postdocs.
In Germany, the DEAL consortium, an alliance of German research organisations that negotiates new contract models with relevant journal publishers under the auspices of the German Rectors’ Conference, plays a key role in the open access process. The goal is the open dissemination of research results from Germany. However, the DEAL contracts are complicated and negotiations with important scientific publishers are ongoing. The Open Access Week at Ulm University starts with a talk and a discussion on the current DEAL rules and other transformative agreements. This is followed by a workshop on ORCID, a researcher platform that facilitates identification, increasing the visibility of research results, in particular through linking and synchronising these results with profiles in renowned databases such as the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus. A workshop on successful publication strategies for acquiring third-party funding is aimed specifically at postdocs. What are the differences between individual journals and what needs are to be considered when publishing in advance via so-called preprint servers? What funding does the university offer for open access publications and why is the university’s own search system OPARU a proper repository?
One topic that has gained massive importance in the context of scientific publishing in recent years is the use of artificial intelligence to create, correct and edit scientific publications. The AI-models used in this context are especially trained with open access publications. A special course offered during the Open Access week aims to support researchers in critically assessing and constructively handling the increasingly complex publication and legal situation. The focus is on strengthening authors’ rights and on opening up space for discussion on how to deal with AI in research and teaching.
All Open Access Week events at Ulm University: https://www.uni-ulm.de/index.php?id=34972
