The “Open Gender Journal - Consolidation” project focuses on establishing open research principles and practices in gender research in German, innovative editorial workflows and greater internationalization. The project, which is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), began its work on June 1, 2025.

There is currently no journal that adapts documentation and quality assurance procedures for gender research to accompany the research process. The Open Gender Journal aims to close this gap: Together with researchers from the field, the project team is developing new publication formats that are oriented towards the research process. These formats will then be discussed with the wider gender research community in order to promote a critical and practical approach to open research.

Another focus is on the further development of editorial workflows through the use of innovative technologies. Among other things, it will be tested whether and how various AI tools can be used in everyday editorial work. Generative AI poses challenges for scientific publishing - for example in terms of scientific integrity, verification obligations and authorship. Science-led journals should therefore play a central role in the debate about the benefits, but also the risks and limits of using AI in editorial work. This is because, in contrast to profit-oriented publishers, the interests of science are paramount here in order to ensure responsible use of the technologies.

The project is also committed to increasing the internationalization of gender studies in German-speaking countries. Since the Open Gender Journal was founded, articles can be published in English and a third of the authors already come from non-German-speaking countries. In order to further increase the journal's visibility and attractiveness, the Open Gender Journal will network with international, science-led open access journals during the project period. At the same time, the journal's own editorial practice will be evaluated with regard to international submissions. The aim is to reflect on how diverse forms of knowledge and research traditions can be taken into account in editorial practice and how an open and inclusive academic culture can be further promoted.

The DFG project “Open Gender Journal - Consolidation” is funded as part of the DFG funding program “Infrastructures for Scholarly Publishing” in the priority area “Digital Publishing”. The project is headed by Dr. Heike Pantelmann (Freie Universität Berlin). Dr. Kathrin Ganz and Sabrina Schotten are responsible for the implementation of the project goals.