Dutch Rectores Magnifici publish own work as Open Access
The latest scientific articles by the Rectores Magnifici of Dutch universities will soon be freely available online. They aim to set a good example to researchers in the Netherlands. Carel Stolker from Leiden University is one such Rector.
The publications of the Dutch Rectores will soon be freely available through university repositories. This is in keeping with the goal to be 100% Open Access in the Netherlands by 2020, and is part of the pilot ‘You share, we take care.’ Articles can be published as Open Access all around the world because of changes made to Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act in 2015, changes also known as the Taverne amendment. ‘Research should be accessible to everyone,’ says Carel Stolker. ‘I believe that openness and the free transfer of knowledge is of huge benefit to science. I am therefore all too happy to make my articles available as Open Access.’
Setting a good example
Han van Krieken, Rector Magnificus of Radboud University, says, ‘Publicly funded scientific work should be freely accessible to the public, lecturers and academics. Dutch universities have recently been able to reach agreements with many publishers on Open-Access publication. Unfortunately, this has not been successful every time. For this reason, it is good that the law currently — albeit provisionally — also allows for Open-Access sharing. The Rectores are taking the initiative, and we hope that many researchers will follow suit.’
Conditions
Under certain conditions, researchers are able to share their publications as open access six months after original publication, without having to reach a specific agreement with the publisher. The scientific research on which the work is based must have been financed in whole or in part by Dutch public funds and the author or co-author must be employed at a Dutch institution. The publication must also be a short academic work, the length of a scientific article or chapter in an edited collection.
Want to participate?
Researchers who wish to participate can get in touch with the Digital Scholarship Librarians at Leiden University Libraries.