By Christoph Bläsi This content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license

1. Christoph Bläsi
Gutenberg Institute for World Literature and Written Media / Book Studies,
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (D)
The role of university presses in the face of Open
Access publishing in Germany
"Biblioteche accademiche e University Press verso l’editoria Open Access“, Milan
(I), March, 17th, 2017
Folie Nr. 1
Datum: 20.03.2017

2. Introduction
OA: a very short history and a few aspects of the current situation
The legal situation with respect to secondary publication rights
Open Access policies
… and persistent resistance against it
And what do the publishers (their association, the „Börsenverein“) say ?
Konstanz in the focus: a clash of extreme positions
Q: A special role for university presses ?
Conclusions
Folie Nr. 2
Datum: 20.03.2017
Structure

3. • The focal points of my contribution are …
– … Open Access (policies and) “politics” (concerning schemes, players, etc.) and
…
– … Germany as well as obviously …
– … a possibly specific role of university presses
• In this context, I will present Open Access in Germany not least as an object of a clash
of interests, hence a somewhat “political” issue
• The parties
– Academics
– Libraries
– Academic publishers (and their association[s]) and …
– … maybe in between (?) university presses (and academic associations /
societies)
Folie Nr. 3
Datum: 20.03.2017
Introduction

4. • ´Journal crisis´: excessive prices; differentiation of scholarly disciplines, cut son library
budgets
• Enter new digital distribution options -> also speed, improved visibility (and by that
promotion of success factors of locations, international and interdisciplinary aspect),
access to less affluent countries and institutions, etc.
• Open Access – target: access without economic, legal and technical barriers, options:
golden, green, hybrid
• Solved problems, at least in principle: discoverability (e.g. DOAJ), sustainability (e.g.
DOI)
• Remaining problems: insufficient paying in to the academic reputation economy
• Front lines / open questions: overall system costs, fundamental critique: ´the public
sector pays twice´, more fundamental critique: see below
• Current relevance: 13% of academic publications in the EU
Folie Nr. 4
Datum: 20.03.2017
OA: a very short history and a few aspects of the current situation

5. • „If the research is funded by the public at a degree of at least 50% […], the author of a
scholarly contribution has the right to make this contribution […] publicly available on
expiry of the period of twelve month after the first publication if this does not serve
commercial purposes. This also holds if he or she had granted an exclusive licence of
utilisation to the publisher or the editor. […]“ (§38 (4), Copyright Law)
– „Der Urheber eines wissenschaftlichen Beitrags, der im Rahmen einer mindestens
zur Hälfte mit öffentlichen Mitteln geförderten Forschungstätigkeit entstanden und
in einer periodisch mindestens zweimal jährlich erscheinenden Sammlung
erschienen ist, hat auch dann, wenn er dem Verleger oder Herausgeber ein
ausschließliches Nutzungsrecht eingeräumt hat, das Recht, den Beitrag nach
Ablauf von zwölf Monaten seit der Erstveröffentlichung in der akzeptierten
Manuskriptversion öffentlich zugänglich zu machen, soweit dies keinem
gewerblichen Zweck dient. Die Quelle der Erstveröffentlichung ist anzugeben.
Eine zum Nachteil des Urhebers abweichende Vereinbarung ist unwirksam.“ (§38
(4), Urheberrechtsgesetz / UrhG)
Folie Nr. 5
Datum: 20.03.2017
The legal situation in Germany with respect to secondary publication rights

6. • Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF): clear recommendation for
Open Access, including explicitly the secondary publication / green road solution
(typically after an embargo period)
• German Research Council (DFG): strategy and recommendations clearly pro-Open
Access – no obligation to publish Open Access, though (apart from one special
program) [<-> US, GB, CEC / Horizon 2020]
– "The possibilities to oblige recipients of [public] funds to make their research
results accessible Open Access find their limitations in the academic freedom and
the freedom to publish on the side of authors [...] as well as possibly in interests of
general academic policies.”
– Open Access APC funds as integral part of research project funding; typical model
/ flow of money in mind: research funding institution / DFG -> authors ->
publishers („offsetting“ deal)
• (“My”) Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU): clear recommendation for
Open Access, financial (DFG funds) and organizational (mainly repository
management) support
Folie Nr. 6
Datum: 20.03.2017
Open Access policies

7. • Politically
– Librarians (important protagonist: Uwe Jochum):
• danger of control; control is an intrinsic feature of computerization (related
example: Web of Science, SciFinder -> platform operators, Libraries, Universities
-> ?), hence also for Open Access
• undue support of US ICT behemoths: “[…] one can […] make the free ´content´
that had been home delivered to the internet a basis of all sorts of ´business
models´ that work like this: commodify and monetarize the data traffic that forms
around this ´free´ content.”; “[…] a gift [from the state, C.B.] in truth not to its
citizens, but a gift to Google and associates”
– Authors (important protagonist: Roland Reuß):
• undue support of international publishing giants: Open Access “circus” would
do the groundwork for the oligopolistic international publishing houses instead, as
brought forward as a feature of Open Access by its proponents, to limit their
power
• !: statement of the minister (on the occasion of the presentation of the current
policy) a “hard digestible ragout consisting of neo-liberal ideas of academic
markets […], virtual GDR 4.0 (with an expropriation of intellectual property) and
state authoritarianism of a wilhelminian complexion”
Folie Nr. 7
Datum: 20.03.2017
… and persistent resistance against it

8. • Legally
– Librarians / Jochum:
• “And here´s the actual crux: the publications are the property of the authors;
that´s the intention of the constitution with respect to the freedom of
academia, that´s the intention of the copyright law. Because only if what they
publish remains their property, the logic of resistance applies that is tied to
every property: it belongs to me, and not to you and not to the state, either.
[…]”
Folie Nr. 8
Datum: 20.03.2017
… and persistent resistance against it, contd.
-

9. • Legally
– Authors / Reuß:
• „The sovereignty of a scholarly author to decide about the place of his or her
publication autonomously is not a marginal note. It follows as a core right
from the freedom of research and teaching and must never be made
dependent of interests external to academia.”
• Moreover:
– research funding organizations are not subject of democratic control -
> ´politically´ …
Folie Nr. 9
Datum: 20.03.2017
… and persistent resistance against it, contd.
-

10. • Legally
– Authors / Reuß:
• Further remarks:
– different disciplines / difference with respect to disciplines: patent-
relevant material or other material with relevance to exploitation will
never be Open Access
– publishers / relieving from work / without publishers there is no
transmission mechanism, no buffer between the author and the public;
authors have to transform to machines of self-marketing
– publishers / ensuring diversity / dissident places of publication (for
material that the public sector does not consider relevant) are
important; Open Access publication bodies with equal representation
will hinder academic break-throughs and produce sterility: “It comes
down to a structural censorship using digital tools, if not something is
held out to it.”
– publishers (summing up): “It is in the interest of academic system
that the publishing sector is not thrown out of the production and
distribution context by obligatory digital Open Access repositories.”
Folie Nr. 10
Datum: 20.03.2017
… and persistent resistance against it, contd.
-

11. • a much more lenient position recently: publishers more service providers for quality,
citeability, discoverability, sustainability: “Publishers see themselves increasingly as
service partners and not as gatekeeper in the publishing process, because there are a
lot of models following which academia and publishers can cooperate constructively.”
(Matthias Ulmer, head of the publishers´ committee of the “Börsenverein”) and also as
partners in solving problems (like ´double dipping´)
– however: “It is clear today that Open Access is not a model for saving costs and
that the pricing policy of a few publishers have caused a damage to the image.” –
Jochum and Reuß also hold that Open Access publishing is not cheaper overall
– and: internal criticism to this position, especially from small and/or humanities
publishers
Folie Nr. 11
Datum: 20.03.2017
And what do the publishers (their association, the „Börsenverein“) say ?
-

12. • The University of Konstanz (D) obliges its academics to exercise their secondary
publication rights following §38 (4) UrhG (and Baden-Württemberg state is thinking
about such a step for all its universities) …
• … - and is being sued by a number of Konstanz professors (also: Uwe Jochum is the
head of the university library …)
Folie Nr. 12
Datum: 20.03.2017
Konstanz in the focus: a clash of extreme positions
-

13. • University presses – especially if they are more than just branded repositories – are
only seen as one facette, one building block of a balanced publication strategy
– to keep away some content from ´monopolistic structures´ (Zürich)
– to keep open the road to print (e.g. ´on demand´) (and hence particularly attract
humanities researchers) (Zürich [CH], Passau)
– to facilitate certain kinds of marketing (and hence particularly attract humanities
researchers) (Zürich [CH])
• Remarks:
– university presses are not considered to be able to handle considerable shares of
the sheer amount of publications, anyhow
– university presses have never played a major role in Germany – presumably
because of the existence of experienced and renowned commercial academic
publishers since the 19th century (´path dependency´)
• A: no, not in Germany (it seems) …
Folie Nr. 13
Datum: 20.03.2017
Q: A special role for university presses ?
-

14. • Concerning Open Access publishing in Germany, …
– … there is the need for substantial studies e.g. with respect to the overall costs of
the system, …
– … there are a few fundamental criticisms, levered by individual rights which seem
worth thinking about and …
– … there is – it seems – no special catalytic, problem-solving, etc. role for
university presses …
Folie Nr. 14
Datum: 20.03.2017
Conclusions

15. Thank you !
Christoph Bläsi
Folie Nr. 15
Datum: 20.03.2017
Prof. Dr. Christoph Bläsi
Gutenberg Institute for World Literature and Written Media / Book Studies
Johannes Gutenberg University
Philosophicum, Jakob-Welder-Weg 18
D-55128 Mainz
Germany
Fon: +49-(0)6131-39-36289 (unified messaging)
Fax: +49-(0)6131-39-25487
SKYPE: christoph.blaesi
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