The unrestricted and legally free availability of research publications (open access) is the foundation of an innovative and transparent scientific culture (open science). It not only accelerates the dissemination, discoverability and discussion of research results and thus the knowledge process as a whole - it also ensures the social, i.e. public, effectiveness of knowledge. The paradigm is currently gaining momentum, but the transformation is not yet complete.

With this in mind and as a publicly funded research institution, the Leibniz Institute of Surface Engineering (IOM) is fully committed to Open Access. It thus follows the guidelines of the Leibniz Association (Open Access Policy), which have been in force since 2016. Together with other major scientific organizations, the Leibniz Association signed the "Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities" back in 2003 and published its own Open Access Policy for the first time in 2007.

The IOM is currently preparing its own detailed open access policy. Taking into account the "Leibniz Guideline on Good Scientific Practice" and the quality standards of scientific publishing, it will take stock of what has been achieved so far, outline goals, and define measures to achieve these goals. Currently, the IOM open access publication rate is 42% (reporting year 2020), which is higher than in previous years. The IOM is already promoting and incentivizing the prioritization of open access publications:

• The IOM advises its scientists on the legal and financial aspects of open access publishing in all relevant journals
• The IOM supports its scientists in submitting documents to free, subject-specific document servers (e.g. Qucosa of the Leipzig University Library)
• The IOM supports the open access portal "Leibniz Open" of the Leibniz Association