Open Access in der Schweizer Rechtswissenschaft

In der schweizerischen Rechtswissenschaft bewegt sich einiges in Sachen Open Access. Auf der einen Seite sind viele Bottom-Up-Initiativen entstanden, auf der anderen Seite wird der freie Zugang zu rechtswissenschaftlicher Literatur vermehrt Top-Down gefordert – und teilweise auch gefördert. Es bleibt allerdings noch einiges zu tun, bis Open Access zum Standard wird. Dies gilt insbesondere für die Finanzierung von Zeitschriften. Die bisher bestehenden Finanzierungsmöglichkeiten fördern ein System, in dem Quantität mehr zählt als Qualität.

23. Dezember 2021

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Reinforcing Patterns

Despite its revolutionary potential, the movement towards amplifying open access can backfire if it does not expand quickly across the world. As it is today, the vast majority of authors who publish open access are based in European research institutions. By making these authors’ works more easily available than others, open access initiatives may end up dictating the terms of the international legal debate around the world.

23. Dezember 2021

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Handle with Care

I will, in what follows, seek to answer the overarching question of this symposium, starting from a cautionary Romanian rule of law (RoL) reform tale. Other things being equal, its lessons may be extrapolated to the specific case of hopefully post-Orbánite Hungary. The specific context of Hungary presents, at least apparently, the Romanian problem in reverse, namely, the transition from an authoritarian nationalist regime to a pluralist, European, rule of law order.

22. Dezember 2021

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Open Access in Academic Publishing on Law and Jurisprudence

Open Access aims to ensure that scientific findings are disseminated as widely as possible and thus reach (and can be further exploited) where they are of greatest use. Open Access assumes that the unrestricted access to research findings will enable further research and boost scientific progress. This is not restricted to STEM-subjects where speed is often essential to find solutions for looming problems but also applies to studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences including Law and Jurisprudence.

22. Dezember 2021

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Open Access … And Then?

In 2021, the Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht (also known as the Heidelberg Journal of International Law) was reborn. Though one of the oldest public and international law journals, its editors have taken the decision to embrace a new era and mode of publishing. The ZaöRV is now a Platinum Open-Access journal.

22. Dezember 2021

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Open Access, Market Power, and Rents

The notion that scientific progress depends on access to the existing stock of knowledge is an old one. It dates to the 12th century when the French philosopher Bernard of Chartres observed: “We are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size.”

21. Dezember 2021

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Der europäische PNR-Rahmen und die sich verändernde EU-Sicherheitslandschaft

Seit Mai 2018 werden Reisende, die einen Flug in die, aus der oder innerhalb der Europäischen Union buchen oder antreten, gemäß der PNR-Richtlinie in Risikokategorien eingeteilt, um die Wahrscheinlichkeit ihrer Beteiligung an kriminellen oder terroristischen Aktivitäten zu bewerten. Das eigentliche Ziel des PNR-Richtlinie besteht darin, potenzielle Verdächtige zu identifizieren, die den Behörden bisher unbekannt waren. Sie hat somit das Potenzial, zentrale gesellschaftliche Werte wie Privatsphäre, Fairness und menschliche Autonomie neu zu definieren.

21. Dezember 2021

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Open / Closed

Open Access suggests the absence of gates and gatekeepers – but this is evidently not the case. Who gets to publish what and where is still very much a decision made by certain people in certain positions following certain procedures. Although Open Access carries the promise of removing barriers and democratising access, numerous barriers beyond the obvious ones like paywalls or processing charges exist or are being installed.

21. Dezember 2021

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