Optimisation of the open access blog "Jean-Monnet-Saar"

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Thomas Giegerich
• Subject Area: Public Law
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 525576645

The scientific online blog for European Law, Jean-Monnet-Saar (https://jean-monnet-saar.eu/), which actively contributes to the Open Access transformation, has been testing novel forms and procedures of quality assurance of digital publications with the open peer review procedure. In this context, open access means the publication of scientific contributions without legal, technical or financial barriers, which can thus be made permanently available to anyone (especially digitally via so-called blogs on the Internet). Open peer review is characterised by a public review process in the sense that authors and reviewers are known to each other and can enter into a scientific discourse. The Jean-Monnet-Saar blog is to be expanded and optimised during the funding period, and an expansion of its already existing international dimension is also part of this. The performance of an important contribution to the academic shaping of digitalisation in the field of European law in the narrow and the broad sense of the term is the focus of the work of the editorial team. Indeed, the digital transformation in the field of law is still proceeding slowly in Germany. Here, the blog thus serves as a model project for other institutions and, through its optimisation, will make a stronger science-adequate contribution to a more open science. At the same time, young researchers are introduced to the methodology of scientific publishing at an early stage, in compliance with the peer-review process. The threshold for first-time publications is deliberately kept low by the short blog format and short times to publication, while at the same time scientific standards are always adhered to by the review process on the part of the editorial board consisting of Prof. Dr. Astrid Epiney, Prof. Dr. Stefanie Schmahl, Prof. Dr. Thomas Giegerich and Prof. Dr. Christian Calliess. Funding in the priority area "Open Access Infrastructures" can also be used to expand quality-assured, nationally relevant publication platforms - including Open Access repositories that are geared towards the initial publication of research results. There is a need in the academic community insofar as there is no other blog publishing in German and English language that focuses on European law in the broader sense (especially at the level of the Council of Europe). The international dimension, which is already present through the cooperation of the Europa-Institut, of which the applicant is co-director, and which is reflected in numerous publications by academics from the partner universities, is to be further expanded during the funding period. As a result, the blog combines numerous aspects from different focus areas of the funding programme "Infrastructures for Scientific Publishing".

• DFG Programme: Science Communication, Research Data, eResearch (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)