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Fraunhofer is the largest, and one of the most prestigious application-oriented research organizations in Europe. In FP7 (2006-2013) Fraunhofer participated in more than 1000 EC-funded projects - often as project coordinator. By becoming OpenAIRE compliant, the relevant workflows have been put in place to make their research results open access. Outreach to relevant stakeholders, such as research administrators are also a vital element in getting the OA message across this wide research institution. 

A large body of publications

In 2013 Fraunhofer joined the OpenAIRE Project to record as many open access full texts of FP7 Project Publications as possible. This was an extensive task considering the fact that Fraunhofer consists of 67 individual institutes and 23,000 scientists and engineers working in heterogenic research projects with plenty of private and public partners. The challenge was to identify the EU related project publications from a publication quantity of 177,000 publications growing by roughly 10,000 publications a year.

Embedding OA and funding information into local workflows

Firstly the central publication database “Fraunhofer-Publica” and its Open Access Repository “Fraunhofer-ePrints” had to be made OpenAIRE compliant ensuring that all relevant EU-Project metadata could be recorded by the OpenAIRE repository. The customization of the repository software was relatively easy. Publica uses a proprietary software that is easily adaptable to all sorts of additional data fields. The aim was to make sure that all Fraunhofer institutes can enter all relevant additional funder and project information via their usual internal Publica reporting workflows with a minimum of additional work. Once entered in Publica, OpenAIRE should automatically harvest relevant datasets and register the correct full text reference from the Fraunhofer-Publica. Secondly, additional metadata fields for potential other public funders such as BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research) or DFG (German Research Council) were implemented for further use in the future.

Screenshot: Publication Reference in Fraunhofer-Publica

 

 
Screenshot: Publication Reference in OpenAIRE Repository
 
Communication with relevant stakeholders

The introduction of four new obligatory metadata input fields (Funder, Framework Programme, Record Number and Acronym) was the technical part of the project. But the major investment was made in stakeholder communications and information support. Specific information channels and multipliers had to be found. The most important group of people were the Fraunhofer “Scientific Information Managers” (Fachinformationsmanager), a functional role in every institute which is mostly manned by the local library manager who often supports the institute’s publication activities. This group’s internal mailing lists, regular meetings and job training sessions were used to spread information and update the professional background.

 Research Administrators supporting Horizon 2020 preparation

Another suitable multiplier group was identified in the “Fraunhofer EU-Network”: This is a very practice-oriented interest group of Fraunhofer scientists and administrative staff who manage and participate in EU projects. In February and March 2014 this network together with Fraunhofer Brussels organised a series of information events called 'EU-Roadshow 2014'  touring 9 major Fraunhofer sites and holding a whole day of lectures on H2020. At each event a special information slot was reserved for Open Access and the publication requirements in H2020 and OpenAIRE.
The Institutes get all the support they need for these activities from the central publication management team of Fraunhofer. Thus, several information mailings and e-teaching sessions, a set of checklists, how-tos and wiki pages were developed to support the scientists. Since June 2014 a growing number of Fraunhofer institutes started implementing processes for reporting funded publications.
As of November, the Fraunhofer-Publica is compliant to the OpenAIRE Guidelines 3.0 and 107 Fraunhofer EU project publications can be retrieved at OpenAIRE. This is good preparation for the upcoming OA requirements of Horizon 2020. The Institutes get all the support they need for these activities from the central publication management of Fraunhofer. 

Contact
Tina Klages. Email: tina.klages[at]irb.fraunhofer.de
Claus Spiecker. Email: claus.spiecker[at]irb.fraunhofer.de
 
Competence-Centre Fraunhofer-Online
Publication Management I Publication Support I Open Access
Fraunhofer-Informationszentrum Raum und Bau (IRB)