After the Senate approved the draft policy at its meeting on 7 December 2016, it was officially confirmed by the university administration. From the perspective of President (Rector) Prof. Dr. Karl Beucke, the adoption of this policy, which was developed by the University Library in cooperation with the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar's Research Operations Office, sends a clear signal. Having operated an open-access publication server for the past twelve years at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar we want to go a step further," says Beucke. We encourage our scholars to take greater advantage of the possibilities this server offers and use it to make their research results accessible to the world." The Vice-President (Prorector) of Research and Arts, Prof. Dr. Andrea Osburg, Professor of Building Chemistry and Polymer Materials, has pointed out that the open access route of publication is becoming increasingly important to national and European research funders.

University Library director, Dr. Frank Simon-Ritz, connects this issue with a disruption in the international information market, which for years has been increasingly moving from a paper world to a digital one. "We are used to it," says Simon-Ritz, describing the consequences of the transformation process, "We expect information to be available instantly and everywhere on the internet. That shouldn't be unnecessarily restricted in academia."

The text of the Open Access Policy can be found here:
www.uni-weimar.de/fileadmin/user/uni/zentrale_einrichtungen/ub_bibliothek/files/pdf/Open_Access_Policy_final_Dezember_2016-1.pdf

Contacts:

Alexandra Otten
University Library Open Access Officer
Tel.: 03643 / 582805
E-mail: alexandra.otten@uni-weimar.de

Dr. Frank Simon-Ritz
Director of the University Library
Tel.: 03643 / 582800
E-mail: frank.simon-ritz@uni-weimar.de 

Dr. rer. nat. Kristina Schönherr
Director of  Research Operations Office

Tel.: 03643/582 531 e-mail: kristina.schönherr@uni-weimar.de