One of the core elements of a digital research environment is the accessibility and availability of published knowledge. The broadest possible availability of digital publications can be achieved through national licenses on the one hand, and activities in the area of Open Access on the other.

In order to ensure that German research institutions have extensive access to digital publications, free-of-charge to individual researchers, the Alliance of German Science Organisations will increasingly work towards achieving national consortium agreements between its institutions and the scientific publishing houses. This will provide a better service to scientists and scholars, and ensure the responsible management of public funds.

The DFG's national licenses model will be expanded until it covers the requirements of all research institutions as fully as possible, thereby contributing to a comprehensive digital research environment. A key criterion for the further development of this model is to ensure the autonomy of information services at individual research institutions as well as of the existing information infrastructure. The partners will also attempt to coordinate the license agreements with partner organisations abroad whenever feasible.
The Alliance of German Science Organisations aims at eliminating historic spend for print editions as the reference point for negotiations with publishing companies.

An essential objective of the collaboration is also to utilise the combined negotiating potential in order to negotiate demand-oriented license packages with the publishing companies, rather than the supply-oriented packages currently available, and also to develop corresponding new business models. Additionally, the acquisition of national licenses should also be used toward acquiring extended usage rights for authors.