The OJS Deutschland Consortium 2026 – 2028 is off to a strong start with 14 new members committing to collective investment in sustaining PKP open infrastructure.
In late 2025, the Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB), the German National Library of Science and Technology, announced the establishment of the PKP Open Journal Systems (OJS) Deutschland Consortium for 2026 – 2028, aimed at supporting global, non-commercial scholarly publishing. Around the same time, PKP released its five-year strategic plan, articulating a vision of “a world where everyone can access and meaningfully contribute to open knowledge, for the benefit of all.” The establishment of this consortium represents a concrete step toward that vision, demonstrating how sustained care and stewardship from Germany’s open access publishing community can fund and strengthen critical scholarly infrastructure aligned with shared values of openness, community, and inclusivity.
PKP’s Scientific Director, Juan Pablo Alperin, noted that “This consortium shows what is possible when a community comes together for the common good.” He goes on to applaud Germany’s commitment to supporting shared scholarly infrastructure as “a model of how collective action can advance open knowledge for the benefit of all.”
Following a brief period of targeted outreach and member recruitment, the OJS Deutschland Consortium is pleased to report commitments from a number of member institutions, reflecting strong confidence in collective investment in open, non-commercial scholarly infrastructure, and the trust in PKP to deliver on their vision of open knowledge for the benefit of all.
List of members:
- BIS – Bibliotheks- und Informationssystem der Universität Oldenburg
- Hochschulbibliothekszentrum des Landes NRW
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin – Universitätsbibliothek
- Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB)
- Universität Heidelberg – Universitätsbibliothek
- Universität Konstanz, Kommunikations-, Informations-, Medienzentrum (KIM) IT- und Bibliotheksdienste
- Universitäts- und Stadtbibliothek Köln
- Universitätsbibliothek Braunschweig
- Universitätsbibliothek Clausthal
- Universitätsbibliothek der Technischen Universität Berlin
- Universitätsbibliothek Koblenz
- Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig
- Universitätsbibliothek Mannheim
- Universitätsbibliothek Potsdam
TIB’s Deputy Director and Head of Library Operations, Dr. Irina Sens, underscores how the strong uptake of member institutions is a show of trust that reflects the community’s shared commitment to sustaining PKP’s free and open source software through collective funding: “The new consortium allows German institutions to easily participate in securing the activities of the Public Knowledge Project. Such distributed funding is an important building block for fair and sustainable funding of relevant open access infrastructure. In doing so, we are strengthening Diamond Open Access and scholar-led publishing activities in particular.” Reflecting on the initial 14 members of this initiative, she adds: “We are pleased that we have been able to attract a significant number of German members and are confident that more institutions will join.”
For PKP, this collective commitment signals a deep confidence in open scholarly infrastructure as a shared public good. The support of the OJS Deutschland Consortium enables PKP to steward and evolve critical infrastructure that underpins non-commercial publishing globally, while remaining accountable to the communities it serves. By investing in infrastructure, German institutions are helping to secure the long-term resilience, independence, and global reach of OJS, ensuring it continues to support diverse publishing communities and equitable participation in open knowledge.
For information about the launch of the PKP Open Journal Systems Deutschland 2026 – 2028 Consortium, please visit TIB’s original post introducing the consortium, and PKP’s post thanking TIB for this effort on sustaining open infrastructure together.
To learn more about TIB’s leading efforts and motivation, please check out their new blog post (diesen Beitrag auf Deutsch lesen). Thank you to TIB and all the new members of this consortium!
