Open life science publication database
Strengthening the resilience and independence of the life sciences research infrastructure in Europe is necessary regarding the risks posed by dependencies on US-based information services. ZB MED - Information Centre for Life Sciences will therefore develop an open, reliable and sustainable alternative to the PubMed database. This alternative database will provide the currently available PubMed content as well as a technical and administrative framework for the continuous expansion with new publications. A key milestone for the sustainable availability of specialised medical information has already been reached: the current contents of PubMed have been secured and are accessible via the ZB MED search portal LIVIVO.
The project proposal entitled “OLSPub – Open Life Science Publications Database: Building a Resilient European Biomedical and Life Science Infrastructure” was submitted to the German Research Foundation (DFG) in May 2025. It can be viewed here. In November, the DFG announced that the project would not receive funding. A further proposal was subsequently submitted under the DFG’s funding initiative for securing endangered data repositories and promoting data resilience, which is scheduled to run from 2025 to 2027. The DFG has indicated that it will reach a decision on this proposal by the end of 2025. Additional efforts to secure financial support are also underway. The aim is to attract further partners from academia, government and civil society who support the vision of an open European research infrastructure.
If you wish to support OLSPub, you can still do so by submitting a Letter of Support.
Information on the Letter of Support for Scientific Institutions
Information on the Letter of Support for Publishers
Supporters of the project are:
- Arbeitsgemeinschaft der medizinischen Bibliotheken e.V. (AGMB)
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
- CHUV - Bibliothèque universitaire de médecine and Faculty of Biology and Medicine of University of Lausanne
- Cochrane
- Cochrane Information Retrieval Methods Group
- Company of Biologists
- Deutsche Gesellschaft für Information und Wissen e.V. (DGI)
- Duale Hochschule Sachsen
- Einstein Foundation Berlin
- EMBL-EBI European Bioinformatics Institute
- Fachinformationsdienst Pharmazie - PubPharm
- Forschungszentrum Jülich
- Frontiers Media SA
- Gemeinsamer Bundesausschuss (Joint Federal Committee)
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Disease (DZNE) Dresden
- German Library Association e.V. (Deutscher Bibliotheksverband (dbv) e.V.)
- German Network for Bioinformatics Infrastructure (de.NBI)
- Heidelberg University
- IQTIG - Institut für Qualitätssicherung und Transparenz im Gesundheitswesen
- IQWIG - Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care
- JKU Johannes Kepler University Linz
- Karolinska Institutet
- Library of Medical University, Graz
- libre content gGmbH
- Medical University of Vienna
- Medizinischer Dienst Bund
- Medizinischer Fakultätentag, der Verband der Medizinischen Fakultäten
- Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)
- NHS - Library Service - Imperial College London
- Open Knowledge Maps
- Paul Langerhans Institute Dresden
- Robert Koch Institut (RKI)
- Springer Nature
- Taylor & Francis
- Uniklinik Köln
- Universitätsbibliothek Regensburg
- Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Münster
- University Greifswald
- University Medical Center Göttingen
- University Medical Center Heidelberg (will be submitted later)
- University of Cologne - Faculty of Medicine
- University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna
- Vilnius University
- Xia & He Publishing Inc.
You can also support the project personally by signing up to our list of supporters:
Q & A on the project
Press review
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DFG lehnt Förderung für ZB MED-Alternativprojekt zu PubMed ab
In: Forum Substitutionspraxis, 2025-11-23 -
Förderung für Alternative zu PubMed abgelehnt: Plan B für OLSPub
In: Biermann Medizin, 2025-11-21 -
Pubservatory: Neues Tool zur Anzeige von Änderungen in PubMed
In: BIÖG-Infodienste, 2025-11-19 -
ZB MED: Förderung für OLSPub abgelehnt, neuer Antrag für Datenresilienz eingereicht
In: medlabportal, 2025-11-19 -
Plan B für OLSPub
In: b.i.t.Online, 2025-11-19 -
ZB MED hat das Tool Pubservatory vorgestellt
In: RfII Infoticker, 2025-11-19 -
DFG lehnt Förderung für ZB MED-Alternativprojekt zu PubMed ab
In: Deutsches Ärzteblatt, 2025-11-18 -
PubMed 자동 갱신은 유지, 신규 저널 심사는 중단
(PubMed automatic updates to continue, review of new journals suspended)
In: Medical Tribune, 2025-10-19 -
OLSPub – Open Library Services Publication Platform: ZB MED plant eine offene Alternative zu PubMed.
In: Newsblog Universitätsmedizin Mannheim, 2025-10-15 -
Make openness Europe’s scientific strength: Frontiers urges action at European Parliament
In: STM Publishing News, 2025-10-08 -
Frontiers urges Europe to make openness its scientific strength
In: Knowledge Speak, 2025-10-08 -
Wissenschaftliche Resilienz: Auf dem Weg aus der PubMed-Abhängigkeit
In: Deutsches Ärzteblatt, 2025-10-03 -
Make openness Europe’s scientific strength: Frontiers urges action at European Parliament
In: EurekAlert!, 2025-10-02 -
Creating an open, community-driven and resilientdatabase of life science literature metadata: a brief overview
In: Journal of EAHIL, 2025-10-01 -
Panel for the Future of Science and Technology – Panel on *Securing European Data Sovereignty: Evaluating Global Dependencies, Risks, and the European Response*
In: Event recording in the EU Parlament, 2025-10-01 -
Das was gerade passiert, ist bereits ein erster Worst Case
In: zm online, 2025-10-01 -
OLSPub - das europäische PubMed
In: Pharmazeutische Zeitung, 2025-09-12 -
Forschungsautonomie für Europa
In: PZ-Nachgefragt (Podcast), 2025-09-12 -
What’s at risk when we lose public access to data and information
In: Healthbeat, 2025-09-04 - Der stille Kampf um Gesundheitsdaten - wenn Politik Forschungsdaten gefährdet
In: Handelsblatt (Printausgabe), 2025-07-08 - Wenn Politik Forschungsdaten gefährdet
In: Handelsblatt online, 2025-07-07 -
Il faut sauver le soldat PubMed
In: The Meta News, 2025-06-27 -
Trump’s War On Knowledge Requires Re-inventing Academic Publishing
In: techdirt, 2025-06-25 -
Initiative für eine unabhängige Infrastruktur biomedizinischer Literatur – ZB MED entwickelt PubMed Alternative
In: Library Essentials, 2025-06-19 -
Trump’s War On Knowledge Requires Re-inventing Academic Publishing
In: Walled Culture, 2025-06-11 - Does it in reality fit the proper research?
In: b.i.t.online, Ausgabe 3/2025 -
ZB Med, the German Library of Medicine, launches effort to create PubMed alternative
In: Stat News, 2025-05-29 -
Germany Plans Global Alternative to PubMed
In: Medpage today, 2025-05-28 - "Unsere Sicherheit liegt in der Offenheit"
In. Jan-Martin Wiarda (Wiarda-Blog), 2025-05-26 - Bis einer den Stecker zieht
In: Laborjournal, 2025.05.26 - Einstein Foundation Award supports the development of an open, reliable and sustainable alternative to the PubMed database
In: News of the Einstein Foundation Award, 2025-05-23 - Germany’s Plan for an Open and Independent PubMed Safety Net
In: Retraction Watch Weekend Reads, 2025-05-17 -
Deutsche Institute springen in die Lücke
In: FAZ NET, 2025-05-16 -
Sicherung von Forschungsdaten ist "zeitkritisch"
In: Forschung & Lehre, 2025-05-15 -
Report: “Germany’s Plan for an Open and Independent PubMed Safety Net”
In: Info Docket - Library Journal, 2025-05-15 -
Germany's plan for an open and independent PubMed safety net
In: The Scan - What's Worth Reading on the Web, genomewatch, 2025-05-14 -
Germany’s Plan for an Open and Independent PubMed Safety Net
In: Absolutely Maybe - PLOS Blogs, 2025-05-14 -
Sichere Häfen - Deutsche Exillösungen für US-Forschungsdaten
In: FAZ, 2025-05-14 -
ZB MED impulsa una plataforma europea para garantizar la continuidad de la información recogida en PubMed
In: ULPCG - Biblioteca Universitaria, 2025-05-08 - ドイツ医学中央図書館（ZB MED）、PubMedに代わる、オープンで信頼性が高く、かつ持続可能なデータベースを構築すると発表
(ZB MED kündigt Aufbau einer offenen, vertrauenswürdigen und nachhaltigen Datenbank als Alternative zu PubMed an)
In: Current Awareness Portal, 2025-05-07 - Das ZB MED – Informationszentrum Lebenswissenschaften hat den Aufbau einer europäischen Alternative zu PubMed angekündigt
In: RfII-Infoticker No. 19, 2025-05-07 - Infrastruktur made in Europe: Informationsversorgung in Biomedizin und Lebenswissenschaften sichern
In: e-health-com, 2025-05-05 - Wegen Trump: Zentralbibliothek Medizin baut Alternative zu US-Datenbank auf
In: heise online, 2025-05-05
