The Max Planck Society is a large, independent research organization in Germany comprised of 80 institutes across three sections. It is establishing a framework to support open access monograph publishing through its digital library services. Key aspects include growing interest from humanities and social sciences researchers, collaboration with publishers through framework agreements, and pilot projects like Edition Open Access for self-publishing monographs openly. The goal is a sustainable infrastructure while still experimenting with policies and workflows.

1. Approaching the Open Access Format for
Book Publications in the Max Planck Society
Dr. Ralf Schimmer
Max Planck Digital Library
Munich, Germany
Open Access Monographs in the Humanities and Social Sciences Conference
London, 2nd July 2013

2. 80 Institutes in 3 Sections:
ChemPhysTech
Biomedical
Humanities & Social Sciences
Highly distributed organization
74 local libraries & MPDL as central service unit
Budget 1.5 Bill. EUR (public funding)
Staff 17,000 Total Employees
5,500 Researchers
large number of visiting scholars
The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of
Science is an independent, non-profit research
organization
- basic research
- dedicated to scientific excellence
The Max Planck Society
12 July 2013

3. Starting from a growing expression of need, the Max Planck Society wants to establish a framework for supporting the Open
Access monograph publishing. First steps have already been taken. The goal is a sustainable and scalable service infrastructure.
2 July 2013
MPG institutional dimensions in supporting OA monographs
Motivation
Guiding
principles
Publisher
collaboration
2

4. Starting from a growing expression of need, the Max Planck Society wants to establish a framework for supporting the Open
Access monograph publishing. First steps have already been taken. The goal is a sustainable and scalable service infrastructure.
3
MPG institutional dimensions in supporting OA monographs
 Clear and growing expressions of interest in OA monographs
– cf. immediate reactions after Springer trial announcement 2008
 Particularly from HSS researchers
 Tendency at HSS MPIs to establish local publication support service
units
Motivation
2 July 2013

5. Starting from a growing expression of need, the Max Planck Society wants to establish a framework for supporting the Open
Access monograph publishing. First steps have already been taken. The goal is a sustainable and scalable service infrastructure.
4
MPG institutional dimensions in supporting OA monographs
 Clear and growing expressions of interest in OA monographs
– cf. immediate reactions after Springer trial announcement 2008
 Particularly from HSS researchers
 Tendency at HSS MPIs to establish local publication support service
units
Motivation
Guiding
principles
 Building on journal experience, but with awareness to differences, we
want to establish a support infrastructure also for OA monographs
 Essential part of our evolving digital library service portfolio
 Early stage: Still experimenting & developing our concepts
– Coverage & distribution of costs; workflows; author agreements
2 July 2013

6. Starting from a growing expression of need, the Max Planck Society wants to establish a framework for supporting the Open
Access monograph publishing. First steps have already been taken. The goal is a sustainable and scalable service infrastructure.
5
MPG institutional dimensions in supporting OA monographs
 Clear and growing expressions of interest in OA monographs
– cf. immediate reactions after Springer trial announcement 2008
 Particularly from HSS researchers
 Tendency at HSS MPIs to establish local publication support service
units
Motivation
Guiding
principles
Publisher
collaboration
 Building on journal experience, but with awareness to differences, we
want to establish a support infrastructure also for OA monographs
 Essential part of our evolving digital library service portfolio
 Early stage: Still experimenting & developing our concepts
– Coverage & distribution of costs; workflows; author agreements
 Most tangible results so far: framework agreements with publishers
– Collaboration with De Gruyter already announced
– Some others in preparation
 To be noted: No central funding scheme in place yet
 Edition Open Access as important exercise in OA monograph self-
publishing
2 July 2013

7. An important symbolic and practical step towards establishing a service infrastructure for the publishing books in Open Access.
6
News on MPG/de Gruyter framework agreement (24 Jan 2013)
2 July 2013

8. The Max Planck Digital Library accompanied the discussions between DE Gruyter and the SHARE group at MPI Social Law
and Social Policy in order to extraxt framework agreement for the Max Planck Society.
7
Result of a 2-year and 3-party publishing project
2 July 2013

9. A community initative by a group of Max Planck Society research directors and their associates.
8
MPG self-publishing:
Edition Open Access
http://www.edition-open-access.de/
2 July 2013