Section 5.1 Data and Information Management is actively committed to the establishment of Open Access in order to enable access to the results of scientific research without legal, financial and technical barriers.

In 2016, the Helmholtz Open Science Office developed an Open Access Policy for the Helmholtz Association. It formulates a common goal of 100% Open Access for the publication year 2025. To achieve this goal and establish Open Access as the standard, Section 5.1 Data and Information Management supports scientists and is the central point of contact for all questions related to scientific publishing [GFZ intranet].

The central publication database GFZpublic [further information on the GFZ intranet] lists all publications produced at the GFZ. At the same time, it serves as the basis for the evaluation within the framework of Program-Oriented Funding (POF) and the internal evaluation system QUIBS, as well as for generating the publication lists on the websites of the Centre's employees and sections.

The library is responsible for the publication management at the GFZ and supports GFZ employees with various information, training and consulting services on topics such as funding [GFZ intranet], licenses and copyrights, predatory publishing, secondary publications and publishing services.

The GFZ library supports the two main approaches Gold- and Green Open Access. Gold Open Access means the first publication of scientific results in genuine Open Access journals. Article Processing Charges (APCs) are levied when publishing in Gold Open Access journals. The library participates in various publishing agreements that grant GFZ scientists discounts on APCs. 

A special feature are the DEAL agreements with Wiley, Springer Nature and Elsevier. In addition to discounted publishing in Gold Open Access journals, these also enable open reading and publication rights in subscription-based journals (=hybrid). In addition, the library was able to acquire third-party funding for the period from 2025 to 2027 as part of the DFG funding program “Open Access Publication Costs”, so that publications in Gold Open Access journals by GFZ researchers can be funded with up to €1,000 per article.

Green Open Access means the secondary publication of articles that have appeared in closed-subscription-based access journals. After the expiry of an embargo period, the articles can be made available in accordance with the publisher's terms and conditions either in the publisher's version or as a final draft (post-print/accepted manuscript version) via our publication database GFZpublic.