Open Access at the University of Bremen
Publishing in Open Access Journals
What Is Open Access?
The term open access means that scientific information is made available free of charge and without restriction. Many recognized journals are already available in accordance with this principle. Open access publications that are freely available on the web not only reach a wider specialist audience but are also cited more frequently.
The University of Bremen updated its Open-Access-Policy in November 2022, thus reaffirming its commitment to free and equal access to the results of scientific work.
Open Access Standards and Publication Fees
Publishing in an open access journal usually involves costs. The Bremen State and University Library (SuUB) supports researchers in publishing in open access journals. Since 2010, the article processing charges or publication fees of recognized journals can be covered under certain conditions.
Consulting and Information
The SuUB offers advice on publishing:
Phone: +49 (0)421 218-59415
Email: publizierenprotect me ?!suub.uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
► Predatory Practices
Flyer with general information about Open Access publishing
Other useful links:
Database for Open Access Journals
Predatory Practices
Predatory publishers and conferences – how to recognise and avoid them
The term 'predatory practices' refers to questionable and unethical, even outright fraudulent, practices that attempt to financially exploit scientific needs without actually meeting their requirements. These methods are becoming more sophisticated, making it increasingly difficult to clearly identify predatory journals and conferences.
moreAlternative, non-commercial, science-led publication options
The increasing monetisation and commercialisation of academic publishing are major causes of predatory practices. They contribute to an academic publishing system whose commercial interests collide with research integrity standards.
Alternatives to the current system include non-commercial APC-based journals and non-commercial open access publishing models without APC (e.g. Green and Diamond Open Access), which are gaining support in the research community.
The State and University Library Bremen (SuUB) supports and promotes the sustainable implementation of Open Access and Open Science as well as non-profit and community-led initiatives on this topic. The SuUB currently provides the following services:
- MEDIA document server (e.g. first publications of university publication series or second publications)
- Open Journals System
- Financial support for Open Access initiatives, such as Language Sciences Press
- ...
Quality Assurance in the Publication Process
For quality assurance in the publication process, trusted advisors working on behalf of the Academic Senate at the University of Bremen are available to provide advice from researcher to researcher. Interested parties can receive advice before publishing, for example on the consideration of suitable publishers and forms. If a publication has been published by an untrustworthy publisher without quality assurance, related questions can also be clarified confidentially.
Under observation: Open Access publishing with MDPI
MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute) is a publisher of academic Open Access journals, which today publishes more than 390 peer-reviewed Open Access journals. For some time critical voices have been growing, particularly with regard to the extremely fast processing times including reviews, intensive advertising measures and a rapid increase in special issues. As a result and in order to maintain quality assurance in the Open Access publication process, the German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB) has decided to place the publisher under critical observation starting January 2023. After an in-depth review and following the recommendations of the Open Science User Advisory Board of the University of Bremen, the SuUB has decided to join these measures. MDPI will therefore be under critical observation from January 01, 2024. This means that from January 2024, Open Access articles published in MDPI journals will only be subsidized with a maximum of 500 EUR (for manuscripts that have already been submitted there is a transitional period until March 2024). The SuUB closely monitors the development of the publisher and reviews eligibility for funding in accordance with the TIB at annual intervals.
(New) forms of predatory publishing: article-level identity theft
There are increasing reports of article identity theft at German universities. This means: Predatory journals presumably use AI to create new content from already published articles or publish genuine peer-reviewed articles elsewhere under a new title, with a new DOI and sometimes even a new author name. In doing so, they use the names of renowned scientists without their knowledge or consent.
Read more e.g. here: "Predatory publishers' latest scam: bootlegged and rebranded papers", https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02906-8 (Nature)
Early detection of such practices helps to improve quality assurance in the publication process.
If you become aware of, suspect or are affected by such fraud, please report it to the trusted persons listed below or to the library publizierenprotect me ?!suub.uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
Person of trust
The following confidants are available for the different research areas of the university (based on the reasoning of the specialized commissions of the SuUB):
Biology, natural sciences, mathematics:
Prof. Rita Groß-Hardt (FB 2)
gross-hardt@uni-bremen.de
Engineering sciences:
Prof. Kirsten Tracht (FB 4),
trachtprotect me ?!bimeprotect me ?!.de
Law, economics:
Prof. Sarianna Lundan (FB 7),
s.lundanprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
Social sciences:
Prof. Sebastian Haunss (FB 8),
sebastian.haunssprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
Cultural studies:
Prof. Kerstin Radde-Antweiler (FB 9),
raddeprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de