We were delighted to participate in the OA-Tage 2025 in Konstanz in September. The energy, commitment and level of engagement from everyone present was truly inspiring. Together with the German speaking open access community, we addressed the practical needs of publishers and how we can collectively improve the systems and practices of open scholarly communication.
We had the pleasure of connecting with colleagues from Verfassungsblog, SeDOA, the German Open Access Network, AG Universitätsverlage and many others. These conversations were rich in perspectives and ideas, offering fertile ground for collaboration and shared innovation to support open access book publishing.
The workshop we co-hosted with colleagues from Copim Open Book Futures and AG Universitätsverlage focused on scaling small through horizontal collaboration, rooted in open values and interoperable infrastructures. Together we examined workflows that support community-led OA book publishing – covering everything from collective funding schemes (Open Book Collective and Opening the Future) and open metadata (via Thoth) to discoverability and archiving (with DOAB and OAPEN). Thanks to all who supported the workshop – Marco Winkler, Maxi Kindling, Bernhard Schubert, Elisabeth Stadler, Oliver Krüger, Joe Deville, Kevin Sanders, Kira Hopkins and Toby Steiner – as well as the participants who brought such thoughtful reflections to it.
The keynote presentations distilled some of the central challenges and opportunities in the open access landscape. Pierre Mounier reminded us that we – the community – derive empowerment as agents in serving that very community. He argued against isolation from existing systems – and rather than adopting their logic, or merely mirror them, we should instead redirect them towards our shared goals. In this way, efficient, sustainable and equitable systems can be fostered and supported through community-led approaches.
In many talks and conversations across the days, including in the keynote by Marco Tullney, it was stressed how there can be no open access without open infrastructure: It is important to build, support and sustainably fund community-governed open infrastructure to ensure that scholarly publishing becomes truly open, equitable and not least independent of commercial control.
It was great to meet institutions who, despite increasing financial pressures, continue to support us and other open infrastructures, setting a clear example of the kind of shared responsibility and long-term vision that open access demands. Supporting open infrastructures is a commitment to a more equitable, transparent and credible scholarly communication system. We work daily to deepen our collaboration with open access communities around the world to ensure a more resilient and inclusive future for open access.
We are very grateful to all who helped make OA-Tage 2025 such a vibrant, meaningful event – including the organisers and everyone who shared their ideas and time with us.
We look forward to continuing these conversations – and to seeing you all in Linz next year!
