The digitisation of science influences the whole research cycle and offers new opportunities for more openness in academia: Open Science. The ZBW carries out multiperspectival research in the domain of Open Science to proactively shape this transformation.
The Open Science-related developments are taking place at many levels of the science system. It is therefore a concern of the ZBW as an institution within the Leibniz Association to actively contribute its experience and research-based knowledge to science policy bodies and debates at national, European and international level.
At the national level these include the Alliance of German Research Organisations and advisory bodies of the Federal and State science ministries as well as of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. At the level of the European Commission these include expert groups or partnerships established between science institutions and the European Commission. Internationally, the focus is on supranational working groups and agencies. Over the years, the ZBW has been able to establish itself as a competent partner.
With its activities the ZBW wants to make a contribution to constructively supporting and accompanying the cultural change towards more openness in science and academia.
Visit ZBW MediaTalk Blog to read more.
Current activities / ZBW Memberships (selection)
Alliance of Science Organisations
ZBW is represented in the interest group ‘Further development of scientific publishing’ of the Alliance of Science Organisations. The Alliance is an association of the most important science and research organisations in Germany. It regularly comments on issues of science policy, research funding and the structural development of the German science system.
European Open Science Cloud Association
The director of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, Professor Klaus Tochtermann, has been elected to the Board of Directors of the European Open Science Cloud Association on 21 November 2023 for a further three-year term. Hence, the German science community has had a long-standing representative of the Open Science movement at the forefront of European science policy since 2020. The eight members of the Board of Directors of the European Open Science Cloud Association implement the decisions of the General Assembly and therefore represent the most important body of the EOSC Association.
CoNOSC – Council for National Open Science Coordination
CoNOSC brings together national Open Science representatives to create a stronger, more unified and practicable Open Science framework. Together with a representative from the Federal Ministry for Education and Science (BMBF), ZBW has been tasked by BMBF to act as the German representative in CoNOSC.
Open Library Foundation
ZBW's deputy director, Thorsten Meyer, is a member of the Board of Directors of the Open Library Foundation. The Open Library Foundation is an unbiased, independent not-for-profit organization to ensure the availability, accessibility and sustainability of open source and open access projects for and by libraries. The Foundation seeks to enable and support collaboration among various stakeholders in order to share expertise and resources that support libraries.
UNESCO Working Group on Open Science Policies and Policy Instruments
To support the implementation of its "Recommendation on Open Science", UNESCO has launched five working groups that focus on areas of high impact for Open Science: capacity building, policy, funding and incentives, infrastructures, and monitoring. The ZBW actively contributes to the “Working Group on Open Science Policies and Policy Instruments”.
NFDI Senate
The director of the ZBW, Professor Klaus Tochtermann, was appointed to the Scientific Senate of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) in October 2022. The Scientific Senate is the NFDI Association’s body responsible for the overall strategic direction and advises on the effects on the science system.
OeAD – Sparkling Science
The Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Research (BMBWF) initiated the “Sparkling Science” programme of the OeAD – Agency for Education and Internationalisation after the initiative “Top Citizen Science” ended. This programme funds high-quality Citizen Science research projects where scientific institutions collaborate with educational institutions and, if possible, partners from business and society. ZBW director Klaus Tochtermann is a member of the scientific board of trustees which advises the BMBWF on funding.
Science Policy: Previous activities / ZBW memberships (selection)
- G6 Open Science Group (ZBW represented the Leibniz Association)
- G6 Taskforce on Research Assessment (ZBW represented the Leibniz Association)
- G7 Open Science Working Group
- High Level Expert Group EOSC
- EOSC Sustainability Executive Board Working Group
- ITA Advisory Board of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, subject area: “Participation in Research and Innovation“
- Working Group “Federated IT Infrastructure” within the Priority Initiative “Digital Information” of the Alliance of German Science Organisations (ZBW represented the Leibniz Association)
- Strategic Advisory Board of the initiative "Top Citizen Science" of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy (BMWFW)
