Open Access in Brandenburg on the road to success: OA rate well above the national average

FH Potsdam
Mon, 02 Mar 2026 12:00:00 +0000

The latest Open Access Monitoring Report for the state of Brandenburg shows an extremely positive development: with an open access rate of 62.8 % in 2023, Brandenburg is well above the national average of 55.8 %. Overall, the proportion of freely accessible scientific publications in the state has increased by 43.5 percentage points since 2013 - an increase that clearly exceeds the national trend (+ 34.7 percentage points).

The report was compiled as part of the work of Open Access Brandenburg, which is based at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam.

Continuous expansion since 2013

Between 2013 and 2023, a total of 34,896 scientific publications were recorded in Brandenburg. The figures not only document the stable volume of publications in the state, but also the consistent transformation towards more openness and transparency in science.

"With this monitoring, we have created a sound data basis for the past ten years," says Prof Dr Ellen Euler, LL.M., Scientific Director of Open Access Brandenburg. "However, this review is much more than just a stocktaking exercise: it serves as an essential starting point for us to take a closer look at the qualitative aspects of the open access transformation in the next step and to evaluate the scientific output in a more differentiated way."

Investing in visibility and transparency

Another component of monitoring is the evaluation of publication costs reported via OpenAPC. In 2023, the average publication fees for open access articles (APCs) were 2,169 euros. A total of 535,795 euros was spent on open access publications in the state of Brandenburg. The content financed in this way is permanently freely available and can also be freely reused within the scope of the respective licence information.

Open Access as a location factor

The above-average open access rate strengthens the international visibility of Brandenburg as a centre of science and contributes to the free availability of publicly funded research. Open Access not only promotes scientific innovation, but also provides the economy, civil society and politics with low-threshold access to current research results.

The complete Open Access Monitoring Report 2025 is available online via Zenodo.

Further information

Open Access Brandenburg, & Open Access Monitoring Brandenburg. (2026). Open Access Monitoring Brandenburg 2025. Zenodo. https://doi. org/10.5281/zenodo.18323267

Website of Open Access Brandenburg