Publishing Dissertations

KOBRA (Kassel Online Library, Repository, and Archive) is the electronic publication server and digital archive of the Kassel University Library for scholarly works by members of the university. Here, you can publish your dissertation electronically—quickly, easily, and free of charge.

Additional benefits

• Long-term archiving and availability, as well as the citability of your work, are guaranteed through a globally unique identifier (DOI).
• Your dissertation will be included in the German National Library (DNB) and is accessible at any time via the Internet, e.g., through KARLA, WorldCat, or the DNB.
• Your work can be found via popular search engines (Google, Bing, MetaGer, Qwant, etc.) and specialized academic services (OAIster, BASE, Google Scholar), including full-text search.

Registration

Registration is done via your university account (uk number without @…). If you do not have a university account, you can registeras an external user.

Procedure

After logging in, you can upload your dissertation directly; it will initially be stored in a temporary collection. A DOI is reserved right from the start, so you can integrate it into the document before the final upload. As an alternative to the detailed input form, the “Convenient Submission” option is available, where you enter only minimal information and the KOBRA team completes the rest.

We check the submitted document for compliance with formal requirements (e.g., the date of the oral defense must be included; see formal requirements for the title page as specified in PromO) and process it technically. You will then receive a link to the processed version for a final review before the dissertation becomes publicly visible. Standardized keywords from the Joint Authority File (GND) are added; your custom keywords are retained and remain searchable.

License

Consent to the so-called “deposit license” is integrated into the publication process (https://kobra.uni-kassel.de → About KOBRA → License Terms). In addition, you may assign any Creative Commons license to regulate the use and further processing of your work in detail.

Your Rights as an Author

Publication on KOBRA does not preclude further publication in print or electronic form; your copyrights remain intact. You are personally responsible for complying with the copyrights and exploitation rights of third parties. 

Distribution of Your Work

Your dissertation will be submitted to the German National Library (DNB) as part of the legal legal deposit requirement and will be permanently archived and accessible there.

In addition, we offer you the opportunity to distribute your work internationally via ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global (PQDT). Works under a free license without an NC restriction (e.g., CC BY, CC BY-SA) are automatically submitted to PQDT. For theses without a free license or with a CC-NC license, submission will only take place with your express consent. Cumulative dissertations are generally not submitted to PQDT. For more information, please visit our PQDT information page.

Due to our rights policy (the rights remain with you as the author), you are free to also submit your work to other subject-specific services, such as pedocs for works in educational science or other discipline-specific repositories. Please be sure to observe any existing publishing contracts or license terms.

Cumulative dissertations must be published on KOBRA. Since the individual articles have generally already been published or are scheduled to be published by academic publishers, it must first be verified whether and under what conditions they may be republished as part of the cumulative dissertation. We would be happy to advise you on this: publikationsdienste[at]uni-kassel[dot]de. 

Links and Information

• Request for a Holding Period / Embargo
• Sample Title Page (German / English)
• FAQ from the Doctoral Office
• KOBRA FAQs (About KOBRA → FAQs)

Contact

Kassel University Library – Research Support Services / KOBRA, Diagonale 10, 34111 Kassel ✉ kobra[at]bibliothek.uni-kassel[dot]de · ✆ (0561) 804-2107, -7716, or -2763

Kassel University Press (kup) is the university’s own publishing service for books. With kup, you can publish your dissertation electronically and—optionally—in print: Through KOBRA, your dissertation is freely accessible worldwide. At the same time, kup offers the option of high-quality print-on-demand printing, making your dissertation available through both brick-and-mortar and online bookstores.

Advantages

• Publishing with kup is fast, straightforward, and cost-effective.
• KUP follows an author-friendly rights policy (see Copyright and Usage Rights below).
• The digital printing process enables small print runs and reprints as needed; after the initial print run, your work remains permanently available for order via print-on-demand.
• Simultaneous publication on KOBRA offers all the benefits associated with that platform (visibility, long-term archiving, DOI, DNB, KARLA, WorldCat).

Range of Services

• Consulting on developing an optimal publication strategy
• Formal review of submitted manuscripts, preparation of the PDF file, and organization of the printing process
• Open-access publication, long-term archiving, registration with the DNB, inclusion in the catalog of available books, distribution to bookstores via PoD

For additional services (proofreading, formatting, editorial review, typesetting, special cover design), we can refer you to third-party providers as needed; their services are agreed upon and billed separately.

Publication Costs

The costs include a flat-rate publication fee as well as the estimated printing costs; the total costs can be checked in advance using the cost calculator.

• The flat-rate publication fee includes, among other things, a basic typesetting check, preparation for online distribution, PoD printing (including a standard cover), registration with relevant services, and the assignment of an ISBN and DOI.
• The author bears the printing costs. These include: copies for personal use, 2 mandatory copies for the DNB, 2 copies for kup, and, if applicable, copies for series editors.

Process

1. Request a non-binding quote using the inquiry form. Check in advance whether there is a publication series in your Faculty where dissertations are typically published.
2. Once you have decided on the format and print run: sign the publication contract.
3. Submit the print-ready PDF file and select a cover.
4. After review and corrections: Assignment of ISBN and DOI, creation of the cover and colophon, and production of a proof copy by us.
5. You approve the proof.
6. Upon completion: Delivery of the requested copies.
7. We handle the distribution of mandatory and deposit copies as well as registration with the relevant services.
8. Concurrently: Online publication via KOBRA and the kup website.

Copyright and Rights of Use

You, as the author, retain the copyright to the work; you grant kup only a simple, non-exclusive right of use for the desired forms of publication. Your right to publish the work elsewhere remains unaffected.

Submission of Your Thesis

Your dissertation will be submitted to the German National Library (DNB) as part of the legal legal deposit requirement and will be permanently archived and accessible there.

Based on the CC-BY-SA license, your work will also be shared with other services to ensure optimal dissemination—in addition to submission to ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global (PQDT), this currently includes the additional provision of works in the field of education through pedocs. 

Due to our rights policy (the rights remain with you as the author), you are free to submit your work to other subject-specific services as well, such as other discipline-specific repositories or databases

Links and Further Information

• Formatting Guidelines
• Sample Author Agreement
• Overview of the publication series
• FAQ from the Doctoral Office

Contact

Kassel University Library – Kassel University Press, Diagonale 10, 34111 Kassel ✉ kup[at]uni-kassel[dot]de · ✆ (0561) 804-2987 (Author Support, including in-person appointments) · kup.uni-kassel.de

If you would like to publish your dissertation with a commercial publisher, you can receive proportional funding for any open-access fees that may apply through the University Library’s publication fund.

Key Points of Funding

• Eligible for funding are, among other things, dissertations and habilitation theses that were submitted and completed at the University of Kassel and published by recognized academic publishers (in particular, but not exclusively, members of OASPA).
• Funding amount: up to €4,000 gross on a pro-rata basis; for DFG-funded publications, up to €5,000. Any fees exceeding these amounts must be covered by the author’s own funds.
• A prerequisite is an open license (recommended: CC BY or CC BY-SA) and publicly accessible read-only access without financial, legal, or technical barriers, no later than the release of the print edition.
• A copy of the funded monograph will also be made available in a collection on KOBRA.
• Submit informal applications via email to openaccess[at]bibliothek.uni-kassel[dot]de as soon as a publishing commitment or cost estimate is available.

Detailed conditions and the application process: Open Access Monographs – Publication Fund

Research data on which your dissertation is based should generally be retained for 10 years in accordance with the principles of good scholarly practice. The University Library offers a centralized solution for this: Depending on your individual protection needs, your data will be stored in the DaKS research data repository, on an encrypted network drive, or at its current storage location; the metadata will be published in DaKS. This also facilitates later reuse, if needed, through selectable access rights managed by the University Library.
Of course, you may also publish your data under a license of your choice.

Here’s how to proceed
: Fill out the registration form for dissertation data. We’ll get back to you within a few days and explain the next steps, including the appropriate upload method (directly to DaKS, encrypted via Hessenbox to the network drive, or—if neither of these works—by individual arrangement).

Observe
Data Protection Guidelines Check with your advisor in advance to determine whether your data requires special protection—such as in the case of personal data (e.g., interviews) or contractual obligations arising from collaborative projects. Personal data may only be stored or published with the consent of the individuals concerned; this is generally already covered by the consent form signed prior to data collection. If you’re unsure, please note this on the registration form—we’ll then clarify the matter together with the data protection officer.

Link the DOI of your data to the dissertation and, conversely, link the KOBRA or kup DOI to the DaKS entry so that both publications reference each other.

Links and Further Information

• Information page: Central Repository for Research Data from Dissertation Projects
• DaKS Guide
• DaKS FAQ

Contact
✉ daks[at]uni-kassel[dot]de · ✆ (0561) 804-3417