Open Access

From 1 January 2021, all publications resulting from research funded by NWO (core funding) must be Open Access available on the day of publication.

Why is Open Access publishing important?

Making scientific publications available in Open Access at NWO Institutes is important for several reasons. First, because it benefits scientists' scientific careers when their work is freely accessible. Research shows that OA publications are read and cited more often and have more impact. Thus, making OA publications available contributes to the scientific reputation of both the scientist and the institute he/she works for.

In addition, it is important that the results of publicly funded research are as publicly available as possible to everyone.

Open Access publishing can be done through three routes

• Gold: publish in full gold Open Access journals. See the Directory of Open Access Journals for a list of which journals fall under this (www.doaj.org);
• Hybrid: publishing in a journal covered by a transformative deal (such as the UKB/VSNU Open Access deals). Currently NWO-I as a whole only participates in the Elsevier deal. Some institutes additionally participate in other deals;
• Green: publishing in a closed or hybrid subscription journal and immediately (without embargo) depositing the peer-reviewed version (AAM or VoR) in a repository.

In order to embed the green route within NWO-I, a policy framework was adopted in late 2020. This policy framework not only regulates that NWO-I staff should deposit their peer-reviewed articles in the designated repository on the day of publication but also that they are legally allowed to do so without any say from the publisher.

Repository

Each NWO Institute decides for itself which repository it will designate to deposit its publications. The only precondition for the repositories is that they must meet the (technical) requirements of Plan S. In the case that several authors work at an NWO institute, it is sufficient that one of them puts the publication in the repository. And in case a publication is already OA available through another DOAR-registered repository, then including a link to the publication in the designated own repository is sufficient.

Open Access and NWO grants

Employees who receive an NWO grant must also comply with the Open Access rules as formulated in NWO's grant conditions. For more information: Open Access publishing | NWO

News item about open access

In the newsletter Inside NWO-I for NWO-I employees of July 2021, a news item was published about Open Access. Click here to read the article.