"Theologie der Gegenwart" journals now available open access

"We gave this a lot of thought in the editorial team and also discussed it intensively within the faculty," explains Professor Benedikt Kranemann, Editor-in-Chief of ThG. "If we want to reach a larger, younger and international audience, the switch to a digital format is the right step."

The journal has been published by the faculty since 2005. Four themed issues are published each year, alternating between the theological disciplines. In addition to the thematically focussed articles, further articles are published on various theological issues. A special concern of the journals is to support young theologians with their first publications. Articles on the history and current situation of the church and society in the East German federal states are also regularly included. In addition, the authors comment on numerous current theological and church-social topics.

The ThG is now available on the journals@UrMEL portal of the Thuringian University and State Library Jena (ThULB): https://zs.thulb.uni-jena.de/receive/jportal_jpjournal_00002815. All 20 volumes since 2005 are freely accessible in the archive. These are currently undergoing technical processing so that individual articles can be searched for and read in future.

The first issue to be published in full in open access was published in March. It was conceived by ethicist Professor Dr Katharina Klöcker. The thematic focus is on public Christian ethics.

The editorial team spent over a year preparing the switch to open access. The publisher Butzon & Bercker, which previously published the journal, has thankfully released the ThG without any complications, Benedikt Kranemann is pleased to report. In recent months, the editorial team has therefore been able to concentrate fully on the technical realisation of the project. He would also like to thank Martina Schlütter from the Electronic Text Center at Erfurt University Library and the journals@UrMEL portal team at Jena University Library, without whose expert advice the project could not have been realised.

"We will now spend a year gathering experience in open access," announces Benedikt Kranemann. "Then the editorial team and faculty will decide where we want to make changes and take new steps." The path to the future of ThG has thus been taken.