Publication opportunities

With the further development of the VET Repository to the central access point for literature about vocational education and training research, the opportunities for publication via the VET Repository have been established and expanded. The VET Repository is now also available as a publication platform. A distinction is made between different methods and forms. Generally, both initial and secondary publications are possible via the VET Repository.

Initial publications

Initial publications are specialist publications that have not yet been shared with the wider public. 

The VET Repository offers BIBB employees the opportunity to publish preliminary research results online in the form of BIBB Discussion Paper. These can then be published in one of the BIBB publication series or in an external journal. The preliminary discussion allows suggestions and discussions from the expert community to be added to the publication.

In addition, both BIBB employees and external authors also have the opportunity to publish grey literature. There is no standardised definition of grey literature. 

The following specifications apply to the VET Repository: 
These are publications with content that goes beyond general information and that are not published in a commercial context. This includes academic theses, study and research results, project and work reports, and conference reports.

Secondary publications

A secondary publication is a republication of, usually academic, texts that a publisher or institution has already published. In content acquisition, secondary publications are a means of increasing the share of full texts in the VET Repository. 
Based on secondary publication rights, authors have the right to reuse their publications. The ruling under Section 38 (4) of the German Copyright Act (Urheberrechtsgesetz) means that, since 1 January 2014, it has been possible to make use of the secondary publication right for articles that appear periodically. The prerequisite for this is that it relates to research activity that is at least 50% publicly funded. 

Graduate support

Another key objective of the VET Repository is to encourage newly graduated academics. Therefore, as part of our graduate support, they can publish their academic theses via the VET Repository as initial or secondary publications. This applies to Bachelor’s and Master’s theses as well as PhD theses and post-doctoral qualifications.

Publication policies

Initial publications via the VET Repository receive a standardised cover sheet and imprint. The assignment of a Uniform Resource Name (URN) ensures that these publications can be cited. Within the scope of the right to a mandatory deposit copy, these are sent to the German National Library. For capacity reasons, no editing, layout work or typesetting is performed for initial and secondary publications. In the case of publications in cooperation with or solely created by external authors, these authors can commission editing, layout and typesetting services. The costs for this shall not be reimbursed.