The most recent scientific articles from the Rectores Magnifici of Dutch universities will soon be available online to the general, international public for free. By doing so, the rectors aim to set a good example for all researchers in the Netherlands. The articles will be shared via the university repositories.

This is in keeping with the goal in the Netherlands to be 100% open access by 2020 and is a part of the pilot “You share, we take care”. Open-access sharing of the articles across the world is possible due to changes made to Article 25fa of Dutch copyright law in 2015, which is also known as the Taverne amendment. The Utrecht rector Henk Kummeling states that he "naturally" participates in the campaign. "We want to stimulate the development towards Open Science in Utrecht. That is why an extensive university Open Science Program has also been set up, led by Frank Miedema.”

A good example results in good practices

Han van Krieken, Rector Magnificus of Radboud University: “Publicly funded scientific work should also be freely accessible to the public, lecturers, and academics. Recently, Dutch universities have been able to make agreements with many publishers regarding open-access publication. Unfortunately, this has not been successful every time. For this reason, it is good that the law currently — albeit provisionally — allows for open-access sharing as well. The rectors are taking the initiative and we hope that many researchers will follow suit.”

Conditions

Under certain conditions, researchers are able to share their publications in open access after six months, without having to make a specific agreement with the publisher. The scientific research on which the work is based must be financed in whole or in part by Dutch public funds and the author or co-author must be employed at a Dutch institution. It must also pertain to a brief academic work, the length of a scientific article or chapter in an edited collection.

Would you like to participate?

Researchers who wish to participate can get in touch using the following mail address: bibliotheek@uu.nl.

More information

More information on the “You share, we take care” pilot and contact details for the parties involved at the universities can be found at https://www.openaccess.nl/en. You can also check the UU-portal.