About Forschung & Lehre

Forschung & Lehre

Forschung & Lehre is a German monthly journal for higher-education policy and science, published by the Deutscher Hochschulverband (German Association of University Professors and Lecturers) in Bonn. First published in 1994, the magazine appears monthly with a sold circulation of 37,384 copies (fourth quarter of 2025), making it the highest-circulation journal for higher-education and science policy in Germany. Its main topics are German and international education and science policy, the rights and duties of university teachers, and the career prospects of academics – complemented each month by a changing focus theme, contributions on current research fields, and an extensive academic job market. The editor-in-chief is Matthias Jaroch.

Overview

Forschung & Lehre is the journal of German academia: the monthly magazine that the country's professors, lecturers and researchers read to stay current on the policies, careers and debates that shape their professional lives. Published by the Deutscher Hochschulverband – the association that represents the interests of academics vis-à-vis the state, society and the media – the magazine combines the association's institutional voice with independent science journalism.

The editorial program is built around higher-education and science policy: the funding and governance of universities, the reforms of the academic system, the legal framework of academic employment, and the international developments that affect German science. Each month a changing focus theme – from politics, science, culture or society – is illuminated from different perspectives, giving the magazine a thematic depth beyond the news cycle. Contributions on current research fields keep readers in touch with the substance of science itself.

The career dimension is central: the magazine informs about the rights and duties of university teachers, about career paths and prospects for academics at all stages, and about current job openings and appointments. The academic job market – the Stellenmarkt – is one of the magazine's signature services: in cooperation with the weekly newspaper Die Zeit, Forschung & Lehre operates an online job portal for predominantly university positions in research and teaching, making the magazine the marketplace where German academia hires.

The readership is the German academic profession: professors and researchers of all disciplines, the members of the Deutscher Hochschulverband and the wider community of academics who follow higher-education policy. With a sold circulation of 37,384 copies in the fourth quarter of 2025, the magazine reaches a substantial portion of the German professoriate – the decision-makers of the science system.

History

Forschung & Lehre was first published in 1994, under the motto "Alles, was die Wissenschaft bewegt!" – everything that moves science. The founding came at a moment of transformation for German higher education: reunification had integrated the East German universities into the federal system, the mass university was straining under growing student numbers, and the debates about reform, funding and international competitiveness were intensifying. The Deutscher Hochschulverband – founded in 1950 in Hamburg, based in Bonn since 1970 – created the journal as its monthly organ and as the forum of the academic profession.

Over three decades the magazine accompanied German science through its major debates and reforms: the Bologna Process and the restructuring of study programs, the Excellence Initiative and the competition for elite funding, the tenure-track reforms and the career paths of young researchers, the digitalization of research and teaching, the open-access transformation of scientific publishing, and the growing international competition for talent and resources. In each of these debates, the magazine has served as the forum where the academic profession discusses its own future – openly, controversially and with a love of debate, as the publisher's self-description puts it.

The job market developed into a central pillar: from May 2005, the offering for academic job advertisements was expanded through the job portal academics, launched together with Die Zeit – a cooperation that combined the magazine's academic reach with the weekly newspaper's broader audience. The DHV's own appointment service (Ausschreibungsdienst) informs about vacant academic positions in the German-speaking market, making the association – and its journal – the infrastructure of academic careers.

The magazine's authors have included prominent figures of German intellectual life – from Wolfgang Frühwald and Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker to Jürgen Kaube, Durs Grünbein and Norbert Bolz – reflecting the journal's position at the intersection of science, politics and culture. The monthly focus themes – recently including "Attention" as the scarce resource of the digital age – keep the magazine engaged with the questions that move science and society alike.

Content and Sections

Each monthly issue of Forschung & Lehre combines policy journalism with career service and scientific substance. The higher-education policy coverage addresses the system's current questions: university funding, governance reforms, the legal framework of academic employment, research policy at the federal, state and European levels, and the international developments – from American to Asian science policy – that affect German academia.

The monthly focus theme (Schwerpunktthema) provides the editorial depth: a topic from politics, science, culture or society illuminated from different perspectives – recent themes have included attention in the digital age, with contributions on the ethics of attention, the history of attention regimes, neuroscience, algorithmic publics and the crisis of attention in university teaching. These thematic packages give each issue a collectible quality beyond the news.

Career coverage addresses the academic profession's practical questions: the rights and duties of university teachers, appointment procedures, tenure and career paths, the situation of young researchers, and the coaching and seminars the DHV offers on career topics. The job market – print advertisements and the online portal operated with Die Zeit – is the magazine's service core: the marketplace where universities advertise professorships and research positions and where academics plan their careers.

Contributions on current research fields keep the magazine connected to the substance of science: reports from the disciplines, from the natural sciences to the humanities, documenting what German research is discovering. Information on current job openings and appointments – the "Berufungen" – completes the professional service.

Publisher and Organization

Forschung & Lehre is published by the Deutscher Hochschulverband (DHV), the German Association of University Professors and Lecturers, based at Rheinallee 18 in Bonn. The association, founded in 1950 in Hamburg and based in Bonn since 1970, represents the interests of academics vis-à-vis the state, society and the media, advocating for impartial science in a free constitutional state and for the freedom and indivisibility of research and teaching.

The editor-in-chief is Matthias Jaroch, leading the editorial team from Bonn. The magazine carries the ISSN 0945-5604 and appears monthly with a sold circulation of 37,384 copies in the fourth quarter of 2025 – the highest circulation of any journal for higher-education and science policy in Germany.

The DHV's broader program – individual coaching and seminars on career topics, the appointment service for vacant academic positions, DHV-Funds-Consult for university fundraising since 2008, the academic executive search "Leaders In Science", the Deutsche Universitätsstiftung founded in 2010, and the science-specific translation service DHV-De – makes the association the infrastructure of the German academic profession, with the journal as its monthly forum and voice.

Digital Presence

The digital home of Forschung & Lehre is forschung-und-lehre.de, the portal that extends the monthly magazine into continuous science-policy coverage. The site publishes news, background articles and the current issue's contents, serving the daily information needs of the academic community between print issues. The article archive makes the magazine's journalism searchable and accessible.

The online job market – operated in cooperation with Die Zeit – is the portal's service core: the job portal for predominantly university positions in research and teaching, where the German science system's hiring happens. This digital marketplace extends the print job advertisements into the searchable, always-current format that academic job seekers expect.

Social media channels – including the DHV's LinkedIn presence with its thousands of followers – extend the magazine's reach into the professional networks of the academic community, carrying each issue's focus theme and key articles to the researchers, teachers and science managers who follow higher-education policy online.

With three decades of publication history, a monthly rhythm, a sold circulation of over 37,000 copies, the authoritative academic job market and its position as the forum of the German academic profession, Forschung & Lehre remains the central journal of German higher-education and science policy – the magazine that documents what moves science, month after month.