Topics: GFZ

Research topics

Open Science

Open Science is a movement that aims to make scientific research more accessible, transparent, and reproducible. It encompasses practices such as Open Access publishing, sharing research data and software, fostering collaboration across disciplines and institutions. Since the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities in 2003 the Section 5.1 Data and Information Management has been involved in the development of Open Science and integrates it in all services (Open Access Publications and Transformation, GFZ Data Services, FID GEO) since the Berlin Declaration in 2003. Open Science is an essential part of the Data and Information Management Section's strategy to increase the impact and reach of research and to promote a collaborative and transparent scientific community.

Open Access

The Section 5.1 Data and Information Management actively promotes the establishment of Open Access in order to enable access to the results of scientific research without legal, financial and technical barriers. It is the central point of contact for all questions relating to scientific publishing. Among other things, we offer comprehensive advice on the different ways of Open Access (especially gold and green) and the legally secured secondary publication of scientific publications via GFZpublic. We are the contact point for questions around the DEAL contracts and other agreements on open access publishing and support GFZ employees with publication costs in Open Access journals.

Policies

Shield — *(Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay)*

As the service partner for questions on all aspects of scientific publishing at GFZ, the Section 5.1 Data and Information Management is happy to provide information on guidelines and policies relating to the publication of scientific literature, research data and software. Some of these guidelines relate directly to the GFZ (with links to internal information in the Intranet) and were developed there, while others set a broader framework and apply to the entire Helmholtz Association, or even beyond.

GFZ Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice

The overall framework for our scientific work follows the “GFZ Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice” that are in accordance with the Code of conduct of the German Research Foundation DFG” . The DFG has developed these to ensure research integrity as an integral part of research and teaching. “These guidelines underline the importance of integrity in the everyday practice of research and provide researchers with a reliable reference with which to embed good research practice as an established and binding aspect of their work”. (Preamble of the DFG Code of Conduct Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice, 2019). The GFZ as signed this code of conduct in 2023.

Guidelines for Scientific Publications

As a foundation under public law, the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) serves to promote scientific research in the field of geosciences. The fulfilment of this purpose is measured by the results, mainly as scientific publications [GFZ-Intranet], that are made available to the general public.
The “GFZ Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice” apply to the publications of the GFZ staff.
Scientific publications within the meaning of this guideline are (irrespective of the medium)

scientific and technical contributions in scientific journals and conference proceedings
scientific and technical artile in book or brochure form or as part of a book or brochure
scientific and technical expert assessments
publications issued by the GFZ, such as the Scientific Technical Reports (STR) or articles in System Erde
citable data publications
citable scientific software publications

Employees of the GFZ always publish with details of their affiliation to the GFZ. The GFZ is to be cited as affiliation as follows:
GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences
or
GFZ Helmholtz-Zentrum für Geoforschung
Telegrafenberg
14473 Potsdam

Notification of a publication: en Version [PDF, 101 KB]

Data Policy: Guidelines on Research Data at the GFZ

In March 2016, the GFZ was the first Helmholtz Center to publish “Guidelines for Research Data Management at the GFZ”. These fairly general guidelines continue to serve as a overarching document for the handling and sharing of research data at GFZ and may be supplemented by more detailed guidelines for specific data types, projects or research infrastructures.

The guidelines are preceded by the GFZ's clear commitment to open science and the guidelines for good scientific practice, followed by statements on the scientific recognition of the provision of research data, its security and accessibility, as well as citability and licenses. With the subject-specific research data repository GFZ Data Services, the GFZ provides the geoscientific community with a research data infrastructure that supports the archiving of data, the exchange with cooperation partners, data publication and the long-term preservation of data.

Cite: GFZ (2016) Data Policy: Guidelines on Research Data at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam: GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences.
https://doi.org/10.48440/GFZ.LIS.2016.004

Open-source guidelines at GFZ

The development of scientific software or code at the GFZ is an important basis for the acquisition and presentation of research results. The GFZ Open-Source Program Office provides comprehensive information on the rules, guidance and services related to the development of scientific software in the GFZ Intranet.

Open Science Policies of the Helmholtz Association

Together with the Helmholtz Open Science Working Group (with representatives from all Helmholtz Centres), the Helmholtz Open Science Office promotes Open Science and develops Open Science guidelines that are also relevant for GFZ employees. These include, e.g., the Helmholtz Open Science Policy, the Open-Access-Policy of the Helmholtz Association, Recommendations for open science publications in the Helmholtz Association, and the Helmholtz Open Science Briefing: Handreichung: Preprints in Helmholtz (in German)