Stakeholders
Freie Universität Berlin is a signatory of the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities and thus endorses open access to human knowledge and cultural heritage.
All scientists of Freie Universität are recommended, where possible, to make digital full-texts of their publications freely accessible.
The tasks that arise in this context are carried out by different university stakeholders:
The university management of Freie Universität Berlin has been actively committed to Open Access for many years. As early as 2006, the President of Freie Universität signed the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities, followed by the adoption of an Open Access Policy by the Academic Senate in 2008. In 2013, the Executive Board decided to establish the Open Access Publication Fund as part of the DFG's Open Access Publishing funding programme. Further measures were taken in the following years, including the establishment of the Open Access Büro Berlin (2016), the adoption of an open access strategy (2017) and the updating of the policy in 2021. In 2025, commissioners for open science and open access were appointed for the first time to further strengthen the promotion of open science. These steps demonstrate the university's ongoing commitment to open access to scientific knowledge.
The Open Access Representative at Freie Universität Berlin promotes the free dissemination of academic knowledge and supports researchers in making their publications, research data, and software freely accessible and reusable. Established in 2012, the position is based at the University Library. In close collaboration with researchers and the university’s Executive Board, the representative works to integrate open access into everyday research, teaching, and learning at the university. At the same time, the position serves as an interface with society, helping to strengthen the open exchange of academic knowledge in the long term.
Contact:
Dr. Dennis Mischke - Head of Research and Publication Services
E-Mail: dennis.mischke@fu-berlin.de
The Open Science representative at Freie Universität Berlin promotes the principles and practices of open science and supports researchers in ensuring transparency, reproducibility, and open access to research data, methodologies, and results. The position was established in 2025 and is based at the Department of Philosophy and Humanities. In close collaboration with researchers, the university leadership, and the Open Science Working Group, the representative helps to embed open science as an integral part of research, teaching, and learning at the university. At the same time, the role serves as an interface to society, fostering the open exchange of knowledge and the active involvement of societal actors in science.
Contact:
E-Mail: fr.fischer@fu-berlin.de
The University Library offers a range of Open Access services to ensure worldwide accessibility of academic work. Through the institutional repository Refubium, university members can publish dissertations, research papers, and datasets openly. Additionally, the library manages the publication fund, which covers fees for publishing Open Access journal articles.
The Open Access and Scholarly Publishing Team enhances these services by providing consultations, training sessions, and workshops on Open Access and Open Science. The team supports strategic developments, assists FU researchers with journal transformation, and develops infrastructures for scholarly publishing. As part of Berlin Universities Publishing, it offers a platform for Open Access journals using Open Journal Systems (OJS) and actively engages with the international OJS community.
The editorial team offers support for the following topics:
- copyright
- agreements between publisher and author
- reimbursement and upfront payment of APCs
- long-term archiving of documents in the institutional repository
- allocation of persistent identifiers (DOI, URN)
- record of publications in SEP and the University Bibliography
- one-to-one counselling services and training courses
The Open Access and Scholarly Publishing Team offers support for the following topics:
- Central website Open Access at Freie Universität
- Advice on Open Access and Open Science
- Workshops and training courses
- Strategic processing of open access and open science at Freie Universität
- Advice on the transformation of journals
- Publication services within the framework of Berlin Universities Publishing
- Support in the implementation of the Open Access Policy of Freie Universität
Contact:
Document Server Editorial Team
E-Mail: edocs@ub.fu-berlin.de
Open Access and Scholarly Publishing Team
E-Mail: open-access@fu-berlin.de
