Newsletter

News from Pollux

New Function: Suggest Missing Content

You can now suggest new content with just one click if you miss certain content in Pollux. This could be, for example, specialist journals, books, blogs and other sources.
We will then promptly check whether and how we can include them in Pollux.
In this way, you can make a concrete contribution to improve Pollux.

New Content: Staatslexikon

Since the 19th century, the Staatslexikon, published by the Görres-Gesellschaft and Herder Publishing, has been an important reference work for political science and related disciplines. The articles in the encyclopedia have been available Open Access for several years. The almost 2,000 articles can now also be found directly via Pollux and are accessible in full text. New articles as well as revised versions of existing articles are continuously published in the online edition of the Staatslexikon.

The Staatslexikon covers a wide range of topics. Among other things, the articles offer a profound introduction to central concepts and theories of political science debates as well as institutions and organizations. Examples include the contributions on identity politics by Benjamin A. Hahn and the development of the SPD since the German reunification by Ulrich von Alemann.

New PPT for Teaching: Pollux on One Slide

On our materials page you will find an updated version of the PowerPoint slide "Pollux for students" (German version only). Here you will find all the important information about literature research in Pollux on one slide. You are welcome to download this for use in teaching.

New Poster

You are welcome to order a poster (or several if required) for your event, the notice board of your institute, your office door, etc. at kontakt@fid-pollux.de. We will then send it to you promptly at the address given.

Open Science

GPSA statement on Open Access and Open Science

In February 2024, the German Political Science Association (GPSA) published a Statement on Open Access and Open Science, which we as FID Political Science - Pollux could contribute to the editorial process. In the detailed paper, the GPSA, as the largest political science association in Germany, commits to the goals of Open Access and Open Science - in particular the improved accessibility and reproducibility of research results. At the same time, it identifies problematic developments and business models. The GPSA emphasizes the importance of Diamond Open Access in cooperation with independent publishers or non-profit research infrastructure institutions as an important requirement for the success of the Open Access transformation.

Continued in Open Access: The Global Dynamics of Social Policy Series

Thanks to funding from Pollux and the Bremen State and University Library (SuUB), the series "Global Dynamics of Social Policy", published by Palgrave Macmillan, of the Collaborative Research Center "Global Development Dynamics of Social Policy" (CRC 1342) will continue to be published in Open Access.

Spotlight

Support for the Publication of Research Data

Archiving and, where possible, making research data available for subsequent scientific use or publication is becoming more important in order to increase the traceability and reproducibility of research in accordance with the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) Code of Conduct “Safeguarding Good Research Practice”. The technical possibilities already offer researchers a wide range of options for making the data they collect accessible.

Via our Pollux homepage, we guide researchers to our project partners, GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences and Qualiservice Data Sharing, who are specifically aimed at political scientists and support them in archiving and making their research data available for scientific re-use or publication and also have offers that cover the complete cycle of research data management.

In an article on the GPSA blog, Paula Lein (Qualiservice) shows what this support for research data management can look like for a political science project. In line with the orientation of Qualiservice, her article focuses on qualitative research data. Her text "Archiving and sharing qualitative, sensitive research data from political science research: The Qualiservice data service center" (German only) was published in January 2024 in our section "Pollux. For political science".

Pollux, that is…

Who are the people behind Pollux? In each newsletter, we introduce one person from the Pollux team to get to know us a little better.

Franziska Koch

• Metadata Management
• License Management
• User Management and Public Relations

Hello, my name is Franziska Koch and I've been a member of the Pollux team for a year now and supporting them in their various tasks.

I studied Game Design at the HTW Berlin and, with the desire for a career change, I completed an apprenticeship as a specialist for media and information services. Now I am happy to be able to combine the skills of my studies and my training at Pollux.

At Pollux, I mainly work in the area of metadata management. While my work happens more behind the scenes and isn't directly visible, I ensure that the literature in Pollux is up to date, allowing you to access the latest titles. To achieve this, I analyze metadata from literature titles and develop scripts for our data pipelines. This way, the information is integrated into our Pollux index and appears promptly in your search.

I am also the person behind our contact page. Perhaps some of you have already seen my name in your e-mails or contacted me with questions or comments. I’m happy to help you with activating your PLUS-account for political scientists and for any other concerns.

Another part of my work is designing our advertising materials such as posters and flyers or presentations. This versatility keeps my work at Pollux always interesting!

In my free time, I enjoy exploring nature with my Papillon dog. On rainy days, however, I'm more drawn to the piano or a good video game. Otherwise, I enjoy spending hours with a book in my hands.

Best regards, Franziska Koch

Contributions at Conferences and Events