Strengthening open access infrastructure together: “PKP Open Journal Systems Germany 2026–2028” launched with 14 German academic institutions
diesen Beitrag auf Deutsch lesenIn January 2026, the new consortium “PKP Open Journal Systems Deutschland 2026–2028” has been launched. 14 institutions from Germany have jointly declared their support for the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) and committed to membership fees for the next three years. In this way, they are contributing to the sustainable and joint financing of relevant open-access infrastructure.
In autumn 2025, PKP and TIB called on academic organisations in Germany to join this initiative. Open Journal Systems (OJS)is the world’s most widely used software for scholarly publishing. It is an essential prerequisite for numerous academia-owned publishing services in Germany and thus enables a very large number of diamond open access publications. The consortium’s goal is to secure the development of this software and other relevant activities of PKP.
The following institutions have declared their membership at the outset:
- BIS – Bibliotheks- und Informationssystem der Universität Oldenburg
- Hochschulbibliothekszentrum des Landes NRW
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin – Universitätsbibliothek
- Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB). Leibniz-Informationszentrum Technik und Naturwissenschaften und Universitätsbibliothek
- Universität Heidelberg – Universitätsbibliothek
- Universität Konstanz, Kommunikations-, Informations-, Medienzentrum (KIM) IT- und Bibliotheksdienste
- Universitäts- und Stadtbibliothek Köln
- Universitätsbibliothek Braunschweig
- Universitätsbibliothek Clausthal
- Universitätsbibliothek der Technischen Universität Berlin
- Universitätsbibliothek Koblenz
- Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig
- Universitätsbibliothek Mannheim
- Universitätsbibliothek Potsdam
Update April 2026
In the meantime, these institutions have joined the consortium:
- Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek (SLUB)
- Universitätsbibliothek der LMU München
Update June 2026
In the meantime, these institutions have joined the consortium:
- Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg Carl von Ossietzky
End of updates
All participating institutions become PKP members and can contribute to the PKP community and discussions. TIB organised the agreement, takes care of providing regular information to the consortium members, and enables German institutions to pay their contributions to TIB in a stable amount and in EUR.
In the current discussions about open access infrastructures, there are many calls for the operation of scholar-led, academia-owned publishing services. At the same time, there are few approaches for broadly supported and thus more secure financing of such infrastructure. With the new consortium, we are creating a good opportunity for institutions to provide support as easily as possible. It is still possible to join the consortium. We look forward to welcoming new members.
We would like to thank PKP and all members of this new consortium. Our joint efforts not only benefit our own institutions, but also help open access publishing throughout Germany and internationally. In this way, it also contributes to improving the supply of information to German academic institutions.
See PKP’s post about the start of the consortium.
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Marco Tullney
Marco Tullney
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