For the joint project, in which the teams of the BUA objectives Advancing Research Quality and Value and Sharing Resources have contributed, the institutions involved in the Excellence Alliance pool their existing expertise and experience to build on this. 

"At Technische Universität Berlin, there was already a university publisher that mainly realized book projects, at Freie Universität Berlin we publish scientific journals and can contribute the necessary technical platform," explains Andreas Brandtner. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Charité will function as publication consultants for researchers who want to find out about suitable formats, copyrights or Open Access requirements of funding institutions independently of the publisher. The joint project aims to provide all scholars and scientists at the BUA institutions with an offering for quality-assured Open Access publication of their research results in monographs and journals, thus reflecting the diversity of Berlin's research landscape in the future. The scientific advisory board of researchers from various disciplines and career stages ensures that the high-quality standards set by the publisher are maintained.

After several years of development, there are now already three published monographs and with the "Journal of Geography Education" (Zeitschrift für Geographiedidaktik), a first journal title at BerlinUP. Another 15 to 20 scientific books have already cleared the first publishing hurdles and will also be published in the coming months. If you ask Andreas Brandtner about the publication, which is particularly close to his heart, the answer is prompt: "It is the first book: "Engage with Fungi" by Vera Meyer and Sven Peiffer. It has an interdisciplinary focus, deals with an exciting and witty topic, and also represents the Open Science idea."

Production underway, rising awareness 

In the meantime, BerlinUP has left the project status behind. On September 26, the university press will be officially and solemnly inaugurated with 120 invited guests from the regional and supra-regional higher education landscape and politics, and the publishing industry, thus standing on its own two feet. The State Secretary for Science, Research and Equality, Dr. Henry Marx, the BUA spokesperson and president of Technische Universität Berlin, Prof. Geraldine Rauch, and the management of the university press will welcome the guests. The subsequent panel discussion with experts from all four BUA institutions will provide insights into scientific publishing and Diamond Open Access. On the following three days, Berlin will continue to be dominated by Open Science: The annual conference on the topic – the Open-Access-Days – will take place from September 27 to 29 under the motto "Visionen gestalten" (Shaping Visions) and will shed light on organizational structures, formats, financing, opportunities, and other aspects. 

"We have achieved many of our goals, production is running, awareness is increasing and we are going into routine operation," Andreas Brandtner looks back on the work of the past three years. In the near future, the team will continue to raise awareness of the publishing offering with events and training sessions to promote Open Access publications. "I think we are a good example of how this works very well in a university press," says Brandtner.