Towards Open Science: Central infrastructure units collaborate to support the research process

Poster for IATUL conference 2015

Digital technologies influence how scientists process information. The changing environment for librarians and data managers strongly redirects to national and international networks between different research institutions. Accessibility and visibility of research output towards ‘openness’ is part of collaborative working information infrastructure units at non-university research organization like the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF). As member of the Leibniz Association, it promotes free exchange of research results according to the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities.
ZALF explores ecosystems in agricultural landscapes and the development of ecologically and economically justifiable land use systems. Thereby, the central infrastructure facilities Central Library plus and the Department of Landscape Information Systems jointly support the research process by providing technical solutions for knowledge management and information services.
Supporting metadata collection, quality controlled data registration and availability of research products in repositories with long-term preservation strategies, ZALF encourages Open Access and data sharing. Consulting, reporting and monitoring the organizational publication process (e.g. by prepay membership and publication funds) are means to enable the researcher’s decision towards an opening science. The scientific outcome can be embedded into the linked virtual research environment, so disciplinary, technical and structural synergies evolve.
The poster presents already established processes, surrounding conditions and challenges within the scientific community as far as future perspectives on developing publication types and Open Data.