Open Science Policy

The University of Konstanz is committed to the principles of Open Science and takes its social responsibility as a scientific institution seriously. Open Science consists of strategies and procedures that make all elements of the scientific process openly accessible, transparent and usable for others. It includes, in particular, responsible handling of research data as well as sustainable and free access to publications and knowledge, as they provide the basis for transparent, replicable and efficient research. This is why the University of Konstanz encourages its researchers to take the principles of Open Science into account in all phases of the research process while supporting and advising them along the way. Open Science activities are recognised as a characteristic of good scientific work. Through open public sector data and accessible scientific and scholarly communication, the university can also connect with and contribute to society.

This University of Konstanz policy contains the basic guidelines for all aspects of Open Science. The individual units determine how they specifically implement their services, of course always in keeping with the DFG Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice.

Generally, the project leader or researcher is responsible for ensuring compliance with this policy. Researchers are provided with corresponding advisory services and support.

When publishing research works, data or other research results as well as teaching materials and other resources, the University of Konstanz recommends ensuring they are available permanently. This can be achieved through licencing under free licences (for example, Creative Commons).
Open Science is handled in accordance with legal framework conditions, for example on data protection, foreign trade law, the protection of persons and personal rights as well as intellectual property and other asset rights. Ethical issues and any contractual obligations must also be taken into account.

Open Access means providing free and unrestricted access to scientific and scholarly information. The University of Konstanz is a signatory to the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities.

University of Konstanz publications should thus be freely accessible in the sense of Open Access. At the University of Konstanz, we encourage our researchers to upload their publications to the University of Konstanz’s online publication system (KOPS).

The university supports free access to publications by covering the costs for Open Access publication (publication fund) and by including the right to Open Access publication in contracts with publishers. In addition to this, publication services for journals and books as well as corresponding advisory services are provided.

To ensure publication quality, the University of Konstanz supports efforts to make review processes more transparent and open.

Research data are all data that are created, employed, or discovered in the context of scientific and scholarly research. They are available in different formats and types. At the University of Konstanz, we view the publication of research data as part of the research process.

University of Konstanz researchers are required to prepare, save, document and store research data in accordance with relevant subject-specific standards. This also includes documentation of the methods and tools used. We recommend the FAIR Principles as a guideline.

We ask our researchers, as far as permissible and reasonable, to make research data publicly available at the earliest possible time in the form of a citable data publication, with the aim of keeping it accessible, verifiable and reusable in the long term and independent from the data producer. Please use a suitable, trustworthy data repository or data archive for the publication. We will provide supporting infrastructure and advisory services.

Based on the UNESCO recommendation on Open Educational Resources (OER) from 2019, all member states are expected to support OER and release publicly financed educational materials. This permits access as well as free use, adaptation and redistribution by others.
At universities, OER significantly contribute to the digitalization of teaching and promote an open and collaborative teaching and learning environment. Consequently, we recommend all University of Konstanz members use and create OER as well as publish them on OER platforms.

The University of Konstanz promotes open communication on scientific processes and results between science and society in a way that is intelligible to all. The University of Konstanz supports its researchers with appropriate media and public relations work.

Open public sector data are freely accessible data from the public sector. Both the administration and society benefit from these data. The University of Konstanz seeks to publish such data in a suitable form, in keeping with data protection law and personal rights. We make images, videos and other university media available as far as possible.

The University of Konstanz recommends publishing software developed at the university under a free licence. When using software for research purposes, the university recommends checking whether appropriate free software is available.