ing.grid, the OA journal for FAIR data management in engineering, made some big steps in 2024. The journal was shortlisted for the first-ever Enter Open Access Award, completed the first two issues, and is looking to grow further.
Enter Open Access Award
ing.grid is proud to have been shortlisted for the first edition of the Enter Award, an award for Open Access initiatives in Germany. With the nomination, ing.grid places itself among the 4 best initiatives in the category Infrastructure.
The Enter Award was presented for the first time in 2024 to promote free access to scientific publications and other materials on the internet. The award aims to foster an open and collaborative culture of education, research and learning in Germany. About 90 applications from various individuals and groups had been received. The award was presented in five categories: Infrastructure, Skills Transfer, Young Hopefuls, Pioneering Achievement, and Cooperation.
Even though ing.grid did not ultimately receive the Enter Award 2024, we consider the shortlist nomination itself a great success. We were able to achieve it thanks to the engagement of our editorial board and the reviewers as well as the authors who trusted ing.grid in its beginnings. Equally important was the work of the ing.grid management team and the support we have received from the University Library of Darmstadt and the TUjournals team who were the co-applicants for the award.
We were happy to see that many core aspects of ing.grid were addressed in the speechesat the award ceremony: The importance of scholarly-led Diamond Open Access journals for the future development of Open Access was highlighted by jury members as well as by Prof. Dr. Heinz Pampel, professor for information management at the Berlin School of Library and Information Science at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. This is very encouraging for ing.grid to pursue its approach and act as a pioneer for the future development of Open Access publishing.
First two issues completed
We are happy to announce that the first issue of ing.grid and the 2022 NFDI4ing Conference Special Issue are now complete. The first issue contains specimens of two types of ing.grid open peer-reviewed publications: a manuscript and a software submission. The detailed review discussion of each of these articles can be found on the ing.grid preprint server.
As our editor-in-chief, Prof. Peter Pelz, points out in his inaugural letter, “we hope that this inaugural issue of ing.grid contributes to raising awareness about the importance of data quality in research and fosters fruitful dialogue within the scientific community.”
You can access the first issue here.
For the 2022 NFDI4ing Conference Special Issue, seven manuscripts underwent a successful open peer review process on our preprint platform. They are aligned with the topic for the conference of that year: “Unifying the Understanding of Research Data Management (RDM) in Engineering Science”.
The issue was closed with the publication of the editorial letter written by one of our Topical Editors, Robert H. Schmitt, who is also the NFDI4Ing speaker.
You can access the special issue here.
Call for Papers: “Ethical and Responsible Commitments for Sharing (FAIR) Data in Engineering Sciences“
ing.grid’s rolling publication schedule allows peer reviewed articles to be made available immediately after acceptance. Since ing.grid considers engineering sciences to be embedded within society as a whole, ing.grid deliberately includes aspects of data ethics and data economics in its scope. In order to promote these areas within the journal, ing.grid has published a call for papers for a special issue entitled “Ethical and Responsible Commitments for Sharing (FAIR) Data in Engineering Sciences”.
Changes in personnel
The success of ing.grid so far has depended to a large degree on the active engagement of people in various roles, authors, reviewers, editorial board members and managing editors. Recently, some editors, whom we are greatly indebted to, have left ing.grid. The team wishes to take the opportunity to thank Izadora Silva Pimenta for her work as managing editor, Jane Wyngaard for her role as editorial board member and consultant regarding guidelines, Ulrike Küsters for her role as editorial board member and marketing consultant and Regine Gerike for her role as editorial board member and topical editor.
Kevin Logan
Izadora Silva Pimenta
Michaela Leštáková