DFG Open Science Policy
Overview
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) is Germany’s primary public research funding agency. Its Guidelines on the Handling of Research Data, first published in 2015, ask applicants to specify how research data will be made available for reuse, and they encourage rather than mandate open access to publications and data. The DFG Code of Conduct for Good Research Practice (Leitlinien zur Sicherung guter wissenschaftlicher Praxis), adopted in 2019 and updated in 2022, states that researchers should make data available as soon as possible where third-party rights allow, and non-compliance carries no sanction. The DFG is not a member of cOAlition S, and the binding German open access obligation sits with federal ministry project funding instead. These instruments constitute Germany’s primary national framework for research data governance, complementing the EC Open Science Policy requirements that apply to German institutions participating in Horizon Europe. DFG also coordinates and funds the NFDI initiative, through which discipline-specific open data services and standards are built for the German research community.
Connections
- implements: FAIR Principles
- relatedTo: NFDI (DFG coordinates and funds the NFDI initiative as its primary funder and governance body)
- relatedTo: EC Open Science Policy (German Horizon Europe grantees are subject to both DFG and EC open science requirements)
Resources
- https://www.dfg.de/en/research-funding/principles-dfg-funding/research-data
- https://www.dfg.de/resource/blob/174732/3f30d8de48e3f1efe3b7a35c5e325869/230424-leitlinien-wissenschaftliche-praxis-en-data.pdf (DFG Code of Conduct for Good Research Practice, 2022 edition, English)
- https://doi.org/10.2777/8921907 (European Commission, Open Access policies in EU Member States and beyond, Germany chapter, August 2026)