Simplified publication of research content for scientific use

ZPID offers the legally and technically optimized publication of content for purely scientific use. Data publishers receive precise insights into the subsequent use of their material.

With PsychArchvies, ZPID already offers researchers a platform for publishing scientific material related to psychology under free licensing. Based on the revised recommendations on the management and provision of  research data in psychology of the German Psychological Society, this corresponds to a practical implementation of access class 0. In the further realization of the DGPs concept, ZPID has now also implemented access class 1 ("open data/conditional access" or "scientific use") described therein.

In a first step, a standard license agreement for scientific use was developed in cooperation with Dr. Till Kreutzer of the law firm  iRights.Law  and the head of ZPID's archiving and publication services, based on the DGPs recommendations. The design goal here was brevity while addressing frequent practical questions from researchers. A correspondingly intensive, repeated coordination and feedback process with external experts was part of the creation of the license. The  License for scientific purposes ("Scientific Use License")  is published and can itself be reused under a free license, e.g. by other scientific infrastructures and researchers.

In a second step, PsychArchives was further developed to allow researchers to upload and publish material under the License for scientific purposes. For data users, the retrieval of material for scientific purposes is also greatly facilitated. The License for scientific purposes must be concluded and information on the intended use must be provided. The material is then immediately available for download and the data provider is informed about the intended use.

"I am particularly pleased that data providers for material under the License for scientific purposes will now have much better insight into the specific purposes for which it is re-used. Too often, materials are stored somewhere and, if at all, there are purely quantitative retrieval figures afterwards. With the implementation of access class 1, it will be possible for researchers to obtain not only quantitative but also immediate qualitative insights into scientific projects with their material," says Roland Ramthun, Head of Archiving and Publication Services at ZPID.

The new functionalities of "scientific use" access class 1 for data users and data providers can be used in  PsychArchives.

Contact Person

Roland Ramthun, M.A.
Leiter Archivierungs- und Veröffentlichungsdienste sowie IT-Services / Leiter Digital Research Development Services