Skip to main content
Press release
University of Applied Sciences Potsdam signs Berlin Declaration
The President of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, Prof. Dr. Eva Schmitt-Rodermund, signed the Berlin Declaration on the 24th of January 2023. The Berlin Declaration from 2003 is considered one of the most important cornerstones of the Open Access movement. The University of Applied Sciences Potsdam is also the first university in the state of Brandenburg to sign the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA).
With the declaration, the universities commit themselves, among other things, to supporting researchers in publishing in Open Access and to recognising Open Access publications in the assessment of scientific achievements.
The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) from 2012 also aims to emphasise the value of open access publications for academic CVs. As an institution, the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam is the first signatory among Brandenburg's universities.
DORA opposes the excessive weighting of quantitative parameters such as the journal impact factor in the assessment of scientific achievements. By signing DORA, the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam is speaking out in favour of an evaluation practice that focuses on professional quality and impact on science and society, while at the same time recognising all facets of scientific output.
The signing of the Berlin Declaration and DORA was supported by the Brandenburg Open Access Networking and Competence Centre (VuK), which is based at the Department of Information Sciences at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam. The VuK supports Brandenburg's universities in implementing the state's Open Access strategy. It expressly welcomes the signing of the Berlin Declaration and other Open Access declarations such as DORA.
"The deficits of purely numerical measurement and the associated narrowing of scientific production to measurable output are obvious and jeopardise the freedom and independence of science. It is important that other scientific achievements are also taken into account and honoured. By signing DORA and the Berlin Declaration, the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam is committing itself to a multi-layered and differentiated recognition of academic work and thus supporting the cultural change towards more openness," says Prof. Dr. Ellen Euler, LL.M., Dean of the Department of Information Sciences and Professor of Open Access and Open Data.
Prof. Dr. Eva Schmitt-Rodermund, President of University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, said at the signing ceremony: "By signing the Berlin Declaration in its anniversary year, the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam is reaffirming its goal of making academic publications accessible without restriction. Publicly funded research must be made available to the general public in the process of digital transformation. After all, future innovation ideas will benefit from the open access strategy and promote scientific discourse – in Germany and worldwide."
Further information:
https://openaccess.mpg.de/Berliner-Erklaerung
https://sfdora.org/read/
Ministry of Science, Research and Culture of the State of Brandenburg. (2019). Open Access Strategy of the State of Brandenburg. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2581783
