The German taxpayer provides 95% of the Max Planck Society's funding, yet the findings of research are rarely freely accessible to the public. Talking particularly about university researchers, German politician Götz von Stumpfeldt for instance said:
"Most professors at German universities are state funded, but their findings are only published in expensive trade journals. These magazines then have to be bought by libraries, again using taxpayers money."
It is now hoped that other German universities will follow Max Planck's lead in making their institution's research freely available to the worldwide scientific community, and to the taxpayers that fund it. The Universität Göttingen, itself a prestigious research university, was the first BioMed Central member in Germany.
By signing up for BioMed Central membership Max Planck has ensured that article-processing charges are waived - for any of the more than 3000 researchers it employs - for publication in any of BioMed Central's 90 peer-reviewed journals in which all the research content is free. BioMed Central is the largest open access publisher of biology and medicine journals, with a business model based on charging for research articles to be published and then making the content free to readers. Upon acceptance, the article becomes immediately freely available through the Internet to readers worldwide.
A number of Max Planck researchers have already published in BioMed Central's journals. With over 100 articles already published by German authors, BioMed Central reports that Germany is in the top five countries worldwide in terms of both their submissions and publication, along with the USA, the UK and Canada. German scientists have been quick to adopt the open access model. When asked why he had published his paper with BioMed Central, Max Planck researcher Konrad Büssow said, "because I think that free access to results of public research is important."
Like all BioMed Central members, the Max Planck Society has a membership page on BioMed Central. Take a look at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/inst/26950
About the Max Planck Society (http://www.mpg.de/)
Established in 1948, The Max Planck Society for the Advancement
of the Sciences is an independent, non-profit organisation. Max
Planck has over 80 research facilities, the majority of which are
in Germany, and employs over 3000 scientists. The research
institutes focus on those areas of the natural sciences, life
sciences, social sciences, and the humanities where developments
are in the interest of the general public. The Society is
particularly active in new and innovative research areas that are
outside the scope of German universities. Max Planck has produced
15 Nobel laureates since its inception.
About BioMed Central's Institutional Membership Program
BioMed Central's Institutional Membership Program was launched in
January 2002 and now has well over 130 members, including some of
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Institut Pasteur, CNRS and the World Health Organization are all
BioMed Central Institutional Members.
BioMed Central's Membership Program enables institutions to ensure the widest possible distribution of their peer-reviewed research articles. Article processing charges, levied for publishing in one of BioMed Central's 90 peer-reviewed journals, are waived for researchers from member institutions. The full text of all published research is immediately and freely available through the web to readers worldwide.
To find out more about BioMed Central's Institutional Membership Program, please visit our website: http://www.biomedcentral.com/info/about/instmembership or contact us (institutions@biomedcentral.com)
About BioMed Central:
BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com) is an independent
online publishing house committed to providing immediate free
access to the peer-reviewed biological and medical research it
publishes. This commitment is based on the view that open access
to research is essential to the rapid and efficient communication
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Central also publishes reviews and other subscription-based
content.
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