Digital Peer Publishing

Digital Peer Publishing (DiPP) was an initiative for innovation in scholarly communication, organised as a network of electronic journals whose editorial responsibility was anchored at academic institutions. Its organisational and technical support was provided by the Hochschulbibliothekszentrum des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen (hbz), the university library centre of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The initiative was launched through a 2003 call for proposals to initiate and support the development of open-access e-journals in North Rhine-Westphalia. In 2004, the Ministry for Innovation, Science, Research and Technology of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia funded an initial group of eight electronic journals, and a publication infrastructure — the DiPP platform — was built. The initiative officially went online with its first issues on 13 December 2004. DiPP functioned as a shared publishing infrastructure rather than a conventional commercial publisher. It hosted peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed open-access journals across a wide range of disciplines, including African studies, architecture, cognitive science, construction, e-learning, risk and insurance, intellectual property and IT law, virtual reality and broadcasting, linguistics, logistics, rapid technology, social work, and futures research. Free access to the publications was governed by the multi-stage Digital Peer Publishing Licence, designed to implement the open-access approach consistently. Software developed and used within the DiPP platform was largely released under the Deutsche Freie Software Lizenz (German Free Software License). Participating journals included Afrikanistik online, archimaera, Brains, Minds & Media, Constructions, e-learning and education (eleed), German Risk and Insurance Review, the Journal of Intellectual Property, Information Technology and E-Commerce Law, the Journal of Virtual Reality and Broadcasting (JVRB), language@internet, the Logistics Journal (both refereed and non-refereed parts), RTejournal – Forum für Rapid Technologie, Social Work & Society, zeitenblicke, and the Zeitschrift für Zukunftsforschung. The service was discontinued in 2025, ending more than two decades of operation as one of Germany's early state-supported open-access journal platforms.

Digital Peer Publishing (DiPP) emerged from a 2003 call for proposals issued to initiate and support the development of open-access e-journals in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. In 2004, the state's Ministry for Innovation, Science, Research and Technology funded an initial group of eight electronic journals, and a publication infrastructure — the DiPP platform — was established. The initiative officially went online with its first issues on 13 December 2004. DiPP was conceived as a network of electronic journals whose editorial responsibility remained with academic institutions, while the Hochschulbibliothekszentrum des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen (hbz) provided organisational and technical support. This division of labour allowed scholarly communities to retain editorial control while benefiting from shared technical infrastructure and a common licensing framework. Free access to the publications was governed by the multi-stage Digital Peer Publishing Licence, which served to implement the open-access approach consistently. Software developed and used within the DiPP platform was predominantly released under the Deutsche Freie Software Lizenz (German Free Software License), reflecting a commitment to open software alongside open access. Over its lifetime, the platform hosted a diverse portfolio of journals, including Afrikanistik online, archimaera, Brains, Minds & Media, Constructions, e-learning and education (eleed), German Risk and Insurance Review, the Journal of Intellectual Property, Information Technology and E-Commerce Law, the Journal of Virtual Reality and Broadcasting (JVRB), language@internet, the Logistics Journal (both refereed and non-refereed parts), RTejournal – Forum für Rapid Technologie, Social Work & Society, zeitenblicke, and the Zeitschrift für Zukunftsforschung. The service was discontinued in 2025, concluding more than two decades of operation as one of Germany's early state-supported open-access journal platforms.

• 2025

  Discontinuation of the service.

• 2004

  The Ministry for Innovation, Science, Research and Technology of North Rhine-Westphalia funded an initial group of eight electronic journals.

• 2004

  Construction of a publication infrastructure (the DiPP platform).

• 2003

  Call for proposals to initiate and support the development of open-access e-journals in North Rhine-Westphalia.

• The DiPP initiative officially went online with its first issues.

A state-supported, non-commercial open-access publishing initiative and shared infrastructure for scholarly e-journals in North Rhine-Westphalia.

• Afrikanistik online

• archimaera architektur.kultur.kontext.online

• Brains, Minds & Media

• Constructions

• e-learning and education (eleed)

• German Risk and Insurance Review

• Journal of Intellectual Property, Information Technology and E-Commerce Law

• Journal of Virtual Reality and Broadcasting (JVRB)

• language@internet

• Logistics Journal (refereed part)

• Logistics Journal (non-refereed part)

• RTejournal – Forum für Rapid Technologie

• Social Work & Society

• zeitenblicke

• Zeitschrift für Zukunftsforschung

1. 1Digital Peer Publishing – Wikidatawikidata.org
2. 2Digital Peer Publishing – Wikipedia (German)de.wikipedia.org
3. 3hbz – Digital Peer Publishing (DiPP)hbz-nrw.de