Academic publications can be published on bonndoc for free by members of the University of Bonn. These can be works being published for the first time or second-time publications of works that have already appeared following the green open access principle. The kind of specialist review that is common in academic publishing is not carried out. In other words, bonndoc contains reviewed publications, e.g. from Bonn University Press, as well as reports, edited collections, conference proceedings and research reports that have not been peer-reviewed.

Publications on bonndoc are to be made freely available at no charge as a basic principle. If you have any questions in this regard, please contact bonndoc@ulb.uni-bonn.de. Please also be aware of the legal terms and conditions governing bonndoc.

The types of text that can be published include:

• Academic periodicals and periodical articles
• Monographs (or parts thereof)
• Conference papers
• Research reports
• Publication series
• Working papers

The Sherpa/Romeo database will give you an initial idea of whether you will be able to make a publication from an academic periodical available via bonndoc as a secondary publication following the green open access principle. We will be happy to help you clarify the legal situation.

In bonndoc, the USL Bonn provides a permanent infrastructure for electronic publications. Its benefits include:

• Long-term retention of publications
• Issue of persistent identifiers and thus citable URLs
• Structured recording of metadata
• Professional metadata exchange with national and international research systems; this exchange enables publications to be found via the BASE open-access search engine, via Google Scholar and via the German National Library
• Full-text search within bonndoc itself
• Digital long-term archiving via the German National Library

The file for publication must not be copy- or password-protected or use any other form of digital rights management (DRM). bonndoc currently only accepts PDF files. PDF/A format should be used for publishing where possible in order to make long-term digital archiving easier in the future.

Please contact bonndoc@ulb.uni-bonn.de if you would like to publish different file formats on bonndoc.
If this involves research data, the bonndata research data repository may be suitable.

Publications on bonndoc are protected by copyright. You will need to hold the relevant rights in order to publish something on bonndoc. For instance, you will need to consider whether a publisher has already been given exclusive usage rights to a publication. The rights of co-authors will also need to be borne in mind.

You will need to agree to assign rights when you publish on bonndoc. Among other things, this will regulate the transfer of non-exclusive usage rights (distribution, reproduction and making available to the public) to the USL Bonn.

If you would like to set up additional usage rights for your publication, you can grant Creative Commons licenses.

Should you have any questions about legal aspects of bonndoc, you can write to us at bonndoc@ulb.uni-bonn.de.

bonndoc assigns so-called persistent identifiers for all publications. These ensure that the publication will remain permanently accessible via a stable URL and can thus be cited in academic works.

bonndoc uses the handle system to assign persistent identifiers. A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number can also be registered.

Any questions about persistent identifiers?

You’re welcome to get in touch with us at bonndoc@ulb.uni-bonn.de.

Yes. You can publish your doctoral or habilitation thesis for free on bonndoc. This is governed by a separate publication workflow and a number of formal criteria that may differ from the information on this web page. You can find all the details and the names of relevant contacts on our "Publishing Doctoral Theses" web page.

It is not currently possible to publish assignments from a degree program that are not subject to a publication obligation (e.g. bachelor’s and master’s theses) via bonndoc.

If you are a researcher at the University of Bonn, you can edit publications for open-access publication directly in bonndoc. All you need is a Uni-ID from University IT. This will let you log into bonndoc, select the collection into which your publication is to be deposited and describe your publication on a submission form using your own metadata. You will be guided by the system through the rest of the submission process and will be able to upload your publication(s), grant Creative Commons usage licenses if you like, and give your consent to the assignment of rights. The USL will then check your details and approve publication. We will email you if we have any queries.

The submission workflow provides a detailed and comprehensive explanation of the step-by-step instructions.

Please note that only employees of the University of Bonn are able to log in using their Uni-ID.

We will be happy to incorporate your publication ourselves on your behalf in justified exceptional cases. Please contact us at bonndoc@ulb.uni-bonn.de.