Ensuring that scientific data and literature are freely accessible and usable requires not only the right infrastructure, but also researchers like Vera Meyer, who publish their work in open-access formats. Vera Meyer is a biotechnologist and Professor of Applied and Molecular Microbiology at Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin). Since 2016, she has served as the university’s Open Access Officer, advocating for scientific publications to be freely available to all.

Prof. Vera Meyer, why do we need free and open access to scientific literature?

There are many good reasons. One is that our research is funded by society through taxpayers’ money. Therefore, the resulting knowledge should also be freely available to the public. This doesn’t mean sharing patents or proprietary industrial data – but when a decision is made to publish data within the scientific community, I advocate that everyone outside of it should also be able to read it. These publications should be accessible worldwide, whether on a train, at home, on an intranet, or in a café.

Another reason is the next generation of scientists. Students today have practically grown up with the Internet and get most of their important information online. If it can’t be found there, it might as well not exist. Open Access is therefore crucial for teaching, allowing current research results to be integrated and easily understood by students. 

You have been Open Access Officer at TU Berlin since 2016. What milestones has the movement achieved so far?

Open Access is now established – a truly major milestone. It took a few years to get there, and initially we had to raise awareness and convince researchers of the value of publishing openly and freely.

How did you manage to persuade researchers?

Every discipline has established publication routes – specific journals or publishers. Prestigious journals like Nature or Science are often seen as a mark of recognition. But we need to reconsider that. The journal itself isn’t the key quality metric; the article is. Is it cited frequently? Does it influence future research in the field? Initially, our goal was simply to make colleagues aware that other publication routes exist and that they are worth trying.

In 2016, I became Open Access Officer at TU Berlin. We went through all faculties, talking with students, international fellows, and various departments to explain why Open Access is important. At the same time, political developments helped: the EU, the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Berlin Senate, and other institutions introduced funding programs that required Open Access publications. That support was very helpful.

However, we are now observing a continuous rise in costs for Open Access publishing in commercial journals, which is concerning.

What are common concerns about Open Access?

Many researchers fear, without reason, that their academic success might suffer – but in my experience, it does not. In some fields, Open Access journals are still scarce, and some researchers feel unable to start their own journal. Even then, publications can be made openly accessible through university repositories, which make works available as a secondary publication without access restrictions up to twelve months after initial release. For example, TU Berlin’s repository DepositOnce already holds 5,000 such secondary publications.

How does Open Access impact research? 

Data show that Open Access papers are cited more often and more widely used in subsequent research because they are more easily accessible. This accelerates the dissemination of knowledge both within science and society. Being part of an accessible community is crucial – when information is easy to find, research and learning happen faster. Ideally, we would eventually reach a 100% Open Access rate.

What steps are still needed to achieve this?

Scientific publishing relies on the work of countless researchers. Writing, peer reviewing, and editing are typically unpaid, while publishers earn the bulk of the revenue. Hybrid journals allow authors to make their papers open access for several thousand euros – a market-driven model that should be questioned. We need to think more about supporting free repositories and journals. The Berlin Universities Publishing (BerlinUP) press, initiated with support from the Berlin University Alliance, is a step in the right direction. University presses have existed for centuries, with the aim of distributing scholarly knowledge to society and other universities. We need to return to that model: research journals belong in the hands of research institutions, not corporations.

You mentioned BerlinUP. The first book published there was fom you. Why did you choose this route?

Yes, my book Engage with Fungi, published in 2022, was the first release. Part of my research is closely connected to Citizen Science. Fungal biotechnology is an exciting field with the potential to fundamentally change markets and production processes – imagine buildings made from fungi or sustainably produced clothing. Innovation requires combining society, science, and the arts. None of us can understand or change the world alone; we can only do it together.

The book targets actors from many disciplines and backgrounds. The new press is ideal for this audience and for connecting researchers across the four BUA institutions. It also sends a signal: new university presses exist, and they should be recognized as central publication channels. The first edition of the book is already sold out, and a second edition is in print – showing that this publication route can be highly successful.