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 happening on many levels of the science system. Therefore it is a concern of the ZBW as an institution within the Leibniz Association to contribute its experience and research-based knowledge actively 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 last years, the ZBW has established itself as a competent partner.
These activities are the ZBW’s contribution to constructively supporting and accompanying the cultural change towards more openness in science and academia.
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Current activities / ZBW Memberships
Alliance Initiative
The ZBW – as a repesentative of the Leibniz Association – is a member of the Working Group “Federated IT Infrastructure” within the Priority Initiative “Digital Information” of the Alliance of German Science Organisations. The working group analyses the research data infrastructures NFDI and European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). and It has been one of the first actors to point out that NFDI and EOSC need to be closely aligned with the GAIA-X Initiative, a large project for business data, in order to create synergies between science and business.
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 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. The ZBW has been tasked by the Federal Ministry for Education and Science to act as the German representative in CoNOSC.
G6 Taskforce on Research Assessment
Within the context of developments in CoARA - Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment a task force has been established for the topic by G6, a collaboration of CNR, CNRS, CSIC, Helmholtz, Leibniz and Max Planck. The ZBW acts as the representative of the Leibniz Association.
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 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)
- 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“
- Strategic Advisory Board of the initiative "Top Citizen Science" of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy (BMWFW)
