Publication of Final Reports

In order to raise the visibility of project results and enable use or re-use of DFG project reports, the DFG encourages funding recipients to publish the public part of their final report in open access.

The DFG recommends the use of openaccess repositories as a long-term, quality-assured publication option that is free of charge.

Open-access repositories

A general distinction is drawn between:

  1. Institutional repositories, where members of a scientific institution can place their primary and secondary publications in open access. These publication platforms are usually maintained and quality-assured by the library or another information facility which belongs to the institution in question.
  2. Specialised repositories that address specific scientific communities and are often overseen by an editorial team that is specialised in the subject. These may be run by central specialised libraries, specialised information services or scientific societies, for example.
  3. Preprint servers on which publications are mainly made available for the purpose of scientific dialogue, either prior to peer review or without peer review. These usually have a subject focus, too, and tend to be operated by information facilities, though they may also be provided by publishers.

For an overview of various quality-assured publication infrastructures in Germany, see DINI e.V. (German Initiative for Network Information): List of publication services – Deutsche Initiative für Netzwerkinformation e.V. (dini.de)(externer Link). DINI e.V. has developed a certificate that sets quality standards for open-access publication services. Many repositories follow the quality criteria of the DINI certificate even if they are not currently certified.

DFG whitelist for subject-specific repositories

Based on the quality characteristics defined by DINI e.V., the DFG has compiled a list of subject-specific publication platforms that are particularly recommended for open-access publication of project reports. This provides broad subject coverage based on the DFG subject classification system.

 

Publication platforms for ...

1.11 Ancient Cultures
- PropylaeumDok(externer Link)

1.12 History
- AMAD(externer Link) (for Medieval History)
- OstDok(externer Link) (for History of Eastern, Eastern Central and South Eastern Europe)

1.13 Art History, Music, Theatre and Media Studies
- ART-Dok(externer Link) (for Art History)
- media/rep/(externer Link) (for Media Studies)
- musiconn.publish(externer Link) (for Music Studies)
- AMAD(externer Link) (for Medieval Art History and Music Studies)

1.14 Linguistics
- Linguistik-Repository(externer Link)
- AMAD(externer Link) (for Linguistics in Medieval Studies)
- GiNDok(externer Link) (for Linguistics in German Studies)
- The Stacks(externer Link) (for Linguistics in American and English Studies)

1.15 Literary Studies
- CompaRe(externer Link) (Comparative Literature)
- AMAD(externer Link) (for Medieval Literature)
- GiNDok(externer Link) (German Studies)
- The Stacks(externer Link) (American and English Studies)

1.16 Social and Cultural Anthropology, Non-European Cultures, Jewish Studies and Religious Studies
- CrossAsia(externer Link) (Asian Studies)
- FID4SA-Repository(externer Link) (Asienwissenschaften)
- JudaicaDoc(externer Link) (Jewish Studies, Israel Studies)
- MENAdoc(externer Link) (Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies)
- Religious Studies Repository (via FID Religionswissenschaft(externer Link))

1.17 Theology
- IxTheo (via FID Theologie(externer Link))

1.18 Philosophy
- PhilPapers(externer Link)

1.21 Educational Research
- PeDOCS(externer Link) (for working papers)

1.22 Psychology
- PsychArchives(externer Link)

1.23 Social Sciences
- Social Science Open Access Repository SSOAR(externer Link)
- GenderOpen(externer Link) (Gender Studies, for working papers)
- Kriminologisches Repository (via FID Kriminologie(externer Link))

1.24 Economics
- EconStor(externer Link)

1.25 Jurisprudence
- <int>2Dok(externer Link)
- Kriminologisches Repository (via FID Kriminologie(externer Link))

2.11 Basic Research in Biology and Medicine
2.12 Plant Sciences
2.13 Zoology
2.21 Microbiology, Virology and Immunology
2.22 Medicine
2.23 Neurosciences
2.31 Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine
- Subject repository Lebenswissenschaften(externer Link)

3.11 Molecular Chemistry
3.12 Chemical Solid State and Surface Research
3.13 Physical Chemistry
3.14 Analytical Chemistry
3.15 Biological Chemistry and Food Chemistry
3.16 Polymer Research
3.17 Theoretical Chemistry
- ChemRxiv(externer Link)

3.21 Condensed Matter Physics

3.22 Statistical Physics, Nonlinear Dynamics, Complex Systems, Soft and Fluid Matter, Biological Physics 
3.23 Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
3.24 Particles, Nuclei and Fields

3.25 Astrophysics and Astronomy
3.31 Mathematics
- ReNaTe(externer Link)

3.41 Atmospheric Science, Oceanography and Climate Research
3.42 Geology and Palaeontology
3.43 Geophysics and Geodesy
3.44 Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry
- GeoLeo e-docs(externer Link)

3.45 Geography
- GeoLeo e-docs(externer Link)
- FID-move(externer Link) (Mobilitätsforschung)

3.46 Water Research
- GeoLeo e-docs(externer Link)

4.11 Production Technology
4.12 Mechanics and Constructive Mechanical Engineering
4.21 Process Engineering, Technical Chemistry
4.22 Fluid Mechanics, Technical Thermodynamics and Thermal Energy Engineering
4.31 Materials Engineering
4.32 Materials Science
4.41 Systems Engineering
4.42 Electrical Engineering and Information Technology
4.43 Computer Science
4.51 Construction Engineering and Architecture
- ReNaTe(externer Link)

Here you can find the Whitelist for download(Download).

It is also possible to use institutional repositories or the multidisciplinary repository Zenodo(externer Link), which is funded by the European Commission.

Notes on the publication of final reports

The publication platforms listed are tailored to various subject-specific needs. What is more, the technical and organisational basis of the repositories may vary. For this reason, it is not possible to provide a universally valid publication guide here; this would also duplicate existing information pages. From the DFG’s point of view, the following information on the publication process is relevant to all authors of final reports:

  1. Report authors choose a suitable publication platform from a subject-specific or institutional point of view.
  2. They contact the platform operators and submit the part of the final report intended for publication on the platform in question. Depending on the platform, this can be done by e-mail or by means of a web-based submission process.
  3. The reports are to be provided with metadata, either by the report authors themselves or by the operators of the publication platform. In addition to any information on authors, project, reporting period, etc., keywords should usually be assigned to make the report easier to find. Where possible, the project number should be included as a separate metadatum so as to allow for improved assignment of the project and publication.
  4. In order to ensure legally secure publication, a publication agreement is often concluded between the platform operators and those publishing the report. This agreement also sets down the legal conditions of publication. The DFG recommends that authors grant a simple right to use their publication and use open licences (e.g. CC-BY) wherever possible.
  5. When a report is published on an OA platform, the operators assign it a permanent identifier (PID) which makes it uniquely citable and accessible at any time. By feeding the PID into the DFG database GEPRIS(externer Link), it is possible to link the project dataset to the place of publication of the project report. Funding recipients are therefore requested to submit the PID of their published report via an interface that will be available on the DFG’s elan portal as of summer 2023.
  6. The metadata of the published report are provided by the platform operators on library research portals and (subject-specific) search engines or subject databases.

Further Information

FAQs: End of project and final report(interner Link)

Contact

If you have any questions about the final report, please contact the department responsible for your project.