A COAR Case Studies – National Licenses and Open Access in Germany

Over the last years, a number of collaborative negotiations have taken place at a national level in order to push forward on conditions for Open Access within journal license agreements. In 2010, the National Licensing working group of the “Digital Information” initiative in Germany agreed on common guidelines and carried out licensing negotiations for current journals and databases. Spe- cial attention was paid to pricing models, archiving and ‘moving wall’ conditions, including a condition for Open Access. The background to and outcomes of these negotiations are described in this paper, with particular emphasis on newly agreed licenses in the Alliance of German Science Organisations framework (“Alliance licenses”). Further contracts are under development