IN OCTOBER, THE MAJOR GERMAN RESEARCH organizations, together with a dozen other national and international research centers, signed the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (1). In accordance with the spirit of the Bethesda Declaration and the Budapest Initiative, the Berlin Declaration endorses fundamental changes in scientific publishing. The declaration encourages researchers to publish their work according to the principles of the open access paradigm to provide free access for all to scientific publications. These principles advocate the consistent use of the Internet for scientific communication and publishing. According to the declaration, means and ways should be developed to evaluate open access contributions and online journals to maintain the standards of quality assurance and good scientific practices. Furthermore, it advocates that open access publication be recognized in promotion and tenure evaluation and supports further devel- opment of existing legal and financial frame- works to facilitate optimal use of and access to scientific publications.
In one crucial point, the declaration extends the previous Open Access initiatives: The holders of cultural heritage are also encouraged to support open access by providing their resources on the Internet. This point stems from the European Cultural Heritage Online (ECHO) project, which develops solutions to make this heritage accessible via the Internet.
Publication is crucial for science. Free and unhindered access to humanity's knowledge sources increases the benefits that scientists and researchers bring to society and also strengthens the positions of individual scientists and researchers in competition with others. Just as scientists enjoy the right to use knowledge, scientists and researchers who come up with findings are obliged to make their work accessible to other scientists.
There is no doubt that the old system of print-based distribution is much slower and more restricted than the Internet. But for all its efficiency and effectiveness, the new electronic system of knowledge dissemination has to adhere to quality assurance standards and follow principles of good scientific prac- tice, just as with print media. The new paradigm also has to be financially feasible. Funding agencies and research organizations must decide whether they see dissemination costs as part of research costs. The road is long, and as yet, it is uncertain whether the plan of fully exploiting the Internet to build a pool of knowledge will come to pass.
But is it really necessary to answer every question before supporting the right idea ? Like the Web, science cannot be steered by central organizations. Good science finds its way forward, which means that good science finds efficient and effective instruments to be successful. However, science alone might not be strong enough to break existing legal and financial barriers, which is why research organizations like the Max Planck Society feel obliged to give the vision of open access a chance.
The Max Planck Society appeals to research and grant organizations to join its efforts, face the challenges, and embrace the unique opportunity offered to build a global open access platform for scientific and cultural knowledge. We are proud that now the major German research organizations have reached a consensus, too. However, there is still a lot of work ahead of us.