Workshops on Open Access and Open Science

The Open Access Saar service center has been offering workshops on open science topics since 2023.

As an employee/researcher/student at an institution in Saarland, you can contact us at any time to discuss whether we can develop training courses/workshops/lectures/information materials on open access and open science that are tailored to your needs.

We also maintain a calendar of online events for researchers from various providers on the topics of Open Access and Open Science.

Language: English (can be organized later on in German if needed)
Speaker: Anastasiia Afanaseva (Servicestelle Open-Access-Saar);
Registration: Real or Fake? Hands-On Workshop on How to Avoid Cloned Journals and Predatory Publishers | Registration | Microsoft Teams

Choosing the right journal for your publication can be challenging. One reason for this is fraudulent publishers who try to charge you for services and a reputation that they do not provide, and who often disappear along with their publications. Even something that looks like a renowned journal from e.g. Elsevier/Springer can be a fake website.

When looking for sources for your research, it can be also of value to see if the articles come from a trusted source.

This webinar aims to help researchers recognise and avoid scientific fraud and misleading publications. It will cover the following topics:

• Predatory publishers
• Hijacked (cloned) journals
• Mirror journals – legal but confusing
• Paper mills
• Checking for retracted publications: PubPeer for Browser and Zotero
• Tools helping to choose a journal: Think.Check.Submit, B!SON, oa.finder

There will be numerous hands-on exercises to identify fraudulent publication providers.

Veranstalter: Servicestelle Open-Access-Saar
Anmeldung: Academic SEO – Bessere Sichtbarkeit für wissenschaftliche Publikationen | Registrierung | Microsoft Teams
Vortragende: Lisa Schilhan, Universität Graz

Die Auffindbarkeit wissenschaftlicher Publikationen ist essenziell für die Sichtbarkeit und Zitierbarkeit von Artikeln, Büchern und weiteren wissenschaftlichen Veröffentlichungsformaten. Dieser Kurs vermittelt Strategien, mit denen Sie durch Academic Search Engine Optimization (Academic SEO) die Sichtbarkeit Ihrer Forschung signifikant steigern können. Es werden konkrete Optimierungsmöglichkeiten für Titel, Abstracts und Schlagwörter vorgestellt, die sowohl auf Suchmaschinen als auch auf Ihre Leserinnen und Leser ausgerichtet sind.
Besonders vor dem Hintergrund der stets steigenden Verwendung von Künstlicher Intelligenz (KI) in akademischen Suchmaschinen gewinnt beispielsweise die zielgerichtete Gestaltung von Abstracts zunehmend an Bedeutung.

Veranstalter: Servicestelle Open-Access-Saar
Anmeldung: ja, Gute wissenschaftliche Praxis | Registrierung | Microsoft Teams
Dozierende: PD Dr. Andrea Kliewer

Ziele: 
Der Kurs vermittelt den Teilnehmenden forschungsethisches Fachwissen, gibt ihnen Raum zur Reflexion ihrer Werte und Haltungen als Forschende und lässt sie Fertigkeiten im Umgang mit konfliktbehafteten Situationen in ihrer Forschungspraxis einüben. Die Teilnehmenden erwerben Kenntnisse über die Regeln guter wissenschaftlicher Praxis und trainieren ihre Kompetenzen zum Treffen verantwortlicher Entscheidungen im Forschungsalltag.

Inhalte: Inhalt und Umfang basieren auf der DFG Denkschrift sowie den Richtlinien der jeweiligen Universitäten/Institutionen zur Sicherung der „Guten wissenschaftlichen Praxis“:
§ Gute Wissenschaftliche Praxis
§ Wissenschaftliches Fehlverhalten
§ Daten- und Qualitätsmanagement
§ Autorenschaft und Publikationsprozess
§ Betreuung, Mentoring
§ Umgang mit Konflikten und mit wissenschaftlichem Fehlverhalten
§ Ombudssystem
§ Umgang mit KI in der GWP
§ Fallstudien & GSP-Ressourcen

Language: German (can be organized later on in English if needed)
Speaker: Dr. Ulrich Herb (SULB, Publikations- und Forschungsservices)
Target group: Researchers, librarians and Secretariats that process publication cost invoices
Registration: Intranet, Beschäftigte informieren Beschäftigte Online

The Saarland University and State Library (SULB) offers publication funding of up to €2,000 for articles and €5,000 for books. Join our upcoming "BiBo" session to learn more about our services and the UdS Publication Fund.
This event will be held in German, but we are happy to provide individual consultations in English upon request.

(For German see below)

Language: English (can be organized later on in German if needed)
Speaker: Ulrich Herb (Saarland University and State Library (SULB));
Registration: Cumulative dissertations: publishing policies, copyright and Creative Commons licences. | Registration | Microsoft Teams

Cumulative dissertations combine several published or accepted scientific articles/papers into a single doctoral thesis. This sometimes raises questions about publishing rights, terms of reuse and licensing models. 

This information event therefore focuses on the legal and licensing aspects that are particularly relevant for PhD students and their supervisors at the UdS. It provides an overview of:

• Publishing policies and transfers of rights
• Copyright conflicts in cumulative dissertations
• CC licences and open access.

The webinar is aimed particularly at doctoral candidates, supervisors and others dealing with issues of scientific publication, Open Access policies and copyright frameworks. 

Organized by: Servicestelle Open-Access-Saar
Registration: Publication Funding of Hybrid/Gold Open Access in the context of Horizon Europe and Wiley/Elsevier/Springer Nature | Registration| Microsoft Teams
Speakers: Dr. Ulrich Herb (SULB), Nina Christmann (Dezernat Forschung UdS), Verena Wohlleben (SULB)

This input looks at how Open Access publications are handled in the context of **Horizon Europe funding requirements**, and what this means in practice for researchers and institutions. It also highlights the role of major publishers such as Wiley, Elsevier, and Springer Nature, particularly in the context of Germany’s nationwide DEAL agreements.

(For German see below)

Date: July 16, 2025

Language: English

Time: 11 am - 12 am

Location: Online

Speakers: Ulrich Herb (Saarland University and State Library (SULB)); Anastasiia Afanaseva (SULB / Vernetzungsstelle Open-Access im Saarland)

Information:

The Workshops provides information about Open Science and Open Access, their relevance in the carrier for early-career researchers and relevant support services of Saarland University. 

It covers questions and themes sent by the participants, as well as other topics around Open Science, e.g.:

• How do publishers, reviewers, and others perceive OA publications? How is it perceived on the CV?
• How to publish OA, while also publishing in renowned journals?
• How to reuse the data? Can I publish my work somewhere else?
• How to choose a right licence for a publication?

Afterwards, there will be time for questions and discussion.

Registration: Via organizer

Organized by Katja Stempel (PROTEMO Project)

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Datum: 16.07.2025

Sprache: Englisch

Dauer: 11 Uhr bis 12 Uhr

Ort: Online

Referenten: Ulrich Herb (Referent für elektronisches Publizieren und Open Access an der Saarländischen Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek); Anastasiia Afanaseva (Vernetzungsstelle Open-Access im Saarland, Saarländische Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek)

Hinweis: Veranstaltung für das PROTEMO Projekt

Informationen zum Workshop:

Das Workshop gibt einen Überblick über Open Science und die unterstützenden Services an der Universität des Saarlandes und beantwortet Fragen, die von Teilnehmer:innen u.a. im Voraus geschickt werden.

Folgende Themenbereiche sind geplant:

• Allgemeine Informationen zu Open Science und Open Access
• Wahrnehmung von OS und OA bei wichtigsten Akteuren (Verlage, Reviewer, Universitäten, Forscher:innen usw.)
• OS/OA und Karrierebildung für Nachwuchswissenschaftler:innen
• Wiederverwendung von Daten, Zweitveröffentlichungen
• Creative Commons Lizenzen: Vor- und Nachteile einzelner Typen für eigene Publikationen
• Open Access Services an der UdS

Organisatorin: Katja Stempel, Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin im Forschungsprojekt PROTEMO

Date: July 10, 2025

Language: English

Time: 11 am - 12 am

Location: Campus E 1 1 (Informatics Campus),  Room 407, see map of Saarbrücken campus

Speaker: Anastasiia Afanaseva (Saarland University and State Library (SULB) / Vernetzungsstelle Open-Access im Saarland)

Information:

The ca. 15-minutes talk will cover the following topics:

• An overview of Creative Commons licenses
• Their purpose and key differences (e.g. CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND)
• Best practices for licensing and reusing
• Creative Commons as a funding requirement for Horizon Europe
• The role of CC licenses in the context of DEAL contracts

Afterwards, there will be time for questions and discussion.

Registration: No

Organized by Simone Schulze (MPI / Informatics Campus)

(German see below)

Date: June 11, 2025

Language: English

Time: 10 am - 11:30 am

Location: Campus E 1 1 (Informatics Campus),  Room 407, see map of Saarbrücken campus

Speaker: Dr. Michael Didas at Dagstuhl Publishing as an editorial staff member and developer of its web services since 2018.

Information:

Facilitating and promoting scientific communication among researchers in computer science is a core mission of Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz Center for Informatics  
This also includes providing open access publishing services, which — unlike many commercial publishers that often charge very high publication fees — are offered at affordable rates.  

In his approximately 30-minute talk on Dagstuhl Publishing, Michael Didas will give insights into how the publishing service operates.  
He will also address licensing, peer review, and other aspects of the publication process in general, as well as the specific characteristics of the publication culture in computer science.  

Afterwards, there will be time for questions and discussion.

Registration: No

Organized by Simone Schulze (MPI / Informatics Campus)

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Datum: 11.06.2025

Sprache: Englisch

Dauer: 10:00 Uhr bis 11:30 Uhr

Ort: Raum 407, Informatics Campus, Gebäude E1 1 der Universität des Saarlandes, siehe Lageplan Campus Saarbrücken.

Referent: Dr. Michael Didas ist seit 2018 in der Redaktion Dagstuhl Publishing sowie an der Entwicklung seiner Web-Services tätig

Informationen zum Workshop:

Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik hat sich der Erleichterung und Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Kommunikation zwischen Forschern der Informatik als Kernaufgabe verschrieben. Dazu gehört auch die Bereitstellung von Open-Access-Publikationsdiensten, die – anders als bei vielen kommerziellen Verlagen, die oft sehr hohe Publikationsgebühren verlangen – zu günstigen Konditionen angeboten werden.

In seinem ca. 30-minütigen Vortrag über „Dagstuhl Publishing” gibt Michael Didas Einblicke in die Prozesse dieser Publikationsdienste. Dabei wird er auch auf Lizenzierung, Peer-Review und andere Aspekte des Publikationsprozesses im Allgemeinen sowie auf die Besonderheiten der Publikationskultur in der Informatik eingehen.

Anschließend ist Zeit für Fragen und Diskussion.

Anmeldung: Nicht erforderlich

Organisiert von Simone Schulze (MPI / Informatics Campus)

Datum: 26.08. & 27.08.2024

Sprache: Englisch

Dauer: 09:00 Uhr bis 16:30 Uhr, an zwei Tagen

Ort: Großes Sitzungszimmer der Saarländischen Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek (SULB), Gebäude B1 1 der Universität des Saarlandes, siehe Lageplan Campus Saarbrücken.

Referentin: Katarzyna Biernacka ist seit Anfang 2019 die Sprecherin der Unterarbeitsgruppe Schulungen/Fortbildungen der DINI/nestor-AG Forschungsdaten. Die Gruppe setzt sich für die weitere Entwicklung und Ausarbeitung verschiedener Schulungsmodelle und -materialien sowie die Sammlung bereits vorhandener Schulungsmaterialien ein. Zudem ist sie Gründungsmitglied der Open Science Arbeitsgruppe der Gesellschaft für Informatik.

Teilnehmer: maximal 16

Hinweis: Es wird kein Catering geben, weder Essen noch Getränke, aber es wird Möglichkeiten geben, sich in den Pausen zu verpflegen.

Informationen zum Workshop:

Digitale Forschungsdaten und deren Management gehören zu den herausforderndsten Themen, mit denen sich Wissenschaftler und Wissenschaftlerinnen während ihres Forschungsprozesses beschäftigen müssen. Deren Organisation, Veröffentlichung, Archivierung und Nachnutzung gewinnen immer mehr an Wichtigkeit in der Wissenschaft im digitalen Zeitalter. 

Das Programm richtet sich an Personen, die in ihrem Arbeitsbereich oder an ihrer Einrichtung Grundlagen zum Forschungsdatenmanagement vermitteln wollen und davon ausgehend eigene Standards für ihre Projekte auf- oder ausbauen möchten. Neben didaktischen Ansätzen, Methoden und alles was zu einem Seminaraufbau gehört, lernen Sie die folgenden Aspekte des Forschungsdatenmanagements kennen:

• Forschungsdaten-Lebenszyklus
• Forschungsdaten-Policies
• Datenmanagementplan
• Strukturierung von Daten
• Dokumentation
• Speicherung und Backup
• Langzeitarchivierung
• Zugriffssicherheit
• Publikation von Forschungsdaten
• Nachnutzung von Forschungsdaten
• Rechtliche Aspekte

Die Einheiten werden von praktischen Übungen begleitet, durch die das neu gewonnene Wissen verfestigt und auf eigene Anwendungsfälle übertragen werden kann. Dabei lernen die Teilnehmenden nützliche Werkzeuge und Plattformen für eine effektive Arbeit mit ihren Daten kennen.

Date: 25.04.2024

Language: English

Speaker: Dr. Katrin Frisch

Dr. Katrin Frisch holds a doctorate in literature and works for a Ombuds Committee for Research Integrity in Germany called the German Research Ombudsman, which was established by the German Research Foundation (DFG). She has been working there since May 2020 as a research associate in the project "Discussion Hubs to Foster Research Integrity" and has also been part of the advisory office at the German Research Ombudsman since March 2023. The aforementioned project is concerned with the creation of practicable recommendations for action (as an objective), which are intended to supplement the DFG Code and serve as a tool for ombudspersons and researchers.

This workshop enables participants to explore various aspects of research integrity in both theory and practice. In a hands-on approach, the participants will discuss research dilemmas, based on anonymised conflict scenarios handled at the German Research Ombudsman. Deliberating these example cases from multiple perspectives, the participants will not only familiarise themselves with the rules of good research practice, but also learn about prevention and where to turn to if they need help or advice in case of conflict. This will be accompanied by a comprehensive theoretical introduction to the topic and the opportunity to discuss current issues relating to artificial intelligence, open access, and predatory journals as well as conflicts that participants have personally encountered.

Date: 21.02.2024

Language: English

Speaker: Dr. Anja Perry

Dr. Anja Perry has been working in the Data Services for the Social Sciences department since 2016. Prior to this, she gained experience in handling research data in various projects and while working for the Federal Statistical Office. Since 2020, she has been leading the competence development measure in the NFDI consortium KonsortSWD. From 2019 to 2021, she led the training group for the DDI metadata standard. Her research interests are research data management, data publication, data discoverability and data protection.

Transparency in research and the replicability of research data and results is an integral part of good scientific practice. In addition, the re-use of (research) data by other people is now an integral part of empirical social science research. More and more (inter)national research funders, such as the European Commission, as well as journals, require active research data management to ensure that data are of good quality and can be (re-)used by both the original researchers and others in new (research) contexts. The (re-)use of data depends on a number of aspects, e.g., the way in which data is processed and legal requirementssuch as copyright and data protection. Researchers must therefore ensure that there are no legal obstacles to the (re-)use of the data and that the data are well prepared and documented.

The workshop guides researchers and data managers to ensure the use of their (research) data within the project and beyond, to comply with the rules of good scientific practice and to adequately meet funding requirements for data management. The workshop consists of short presentations and practical exercises and offers space to discuss specific problems and exchange experiences among the participants.

Date: 15.01.2024

Language: English

Speaker: Katarzyna Biernacka

Katarzyna Biernacka has been the spokesperson for the Sub-Working Group "Trainings/Further Education" of the DINI/nestor-WG Research Data since the beginning of 2019. The group is committed to further developing and elaborating various training models and materials, as well as collecting existing training materials. She is also a founding member of the Open Science working group of the German Informatics Society.

Research data is a crucial part of the digitization process in science that challenges aspects of scientific work such as reproducibility, reusability, or sustainability. Professional management of digital research data is an essential prerequisite for effective and excellent research. In the workshop, the most important aspects of research data management are addressed:

• Research data life cycle
• Research data policies
• Data management plans
• Structuring of data
• Documentation of research data
• Storage and backup
• Long-term archiving
• Access security
• Publication of research data
• Reuse of research data
• Legal aspects

The units are accompanied by practical exercises through which the newly acquired knowledge can be consolidated and transferred to one’s own use cases. Participants will learn useful tools and platforms for effective work with their data.

On 04.09.2023, a half-day workshop on reproducible research took place at the Graduate Center of Saarland University (UdS). The event was coordinated by the Saarland Open Access Network (Vernetzungsstelle Open Access im Saarland), which was able to recruit Dr. Susann Auer as a speaker. Dr. Auer is one of the leaders of the initiative "Reproducibility for Everyone" and has inspired more than 500 participants with her trainings on reproducible work in science.

Rigor and reproducibility are the core of modern science and set apart scientific inquiry from pseudoscience. Many researchers have never received formal training on how to work in a way that enables reproducibility for themselves and other researchers.

This workshop presented reproducible workflows and a set of tools for researchers and anyone interested in a more reproducible way of working on the topics of organization, documentation, analysis and dissemination. After a brief introduction to reproducibility, the workshop provided specific tips that are useful in improving daily research workflows: The content included modules on data management, reproducible protocols and methods, data and code sharing, reproducible bioinformatics tools and methods, data visualization, and working with images.

Several use cases were worked through to directly apply the reproducible practices learned and discuss challenges in their own work. All workshop materials were made available in digital form to share with interested colleagues as well.