The aim of Open Access is to make publicly-funded research accessible for everyone. Open access academic publications, which can be freely read, printed, copied, distributed, searched or otherwise used, contribute to an accelerated dissemination of research results and hence to the development of academic knowledge, the use and reuse of the research results in education, and their utilisation by members of the public and professionals.
If you have any questions about Open Access, please contact the Library’s Open Access Helpdesk: openaccess@uva.nl.
The Dutch government has put Open Science on the political agenda. Firstly at national level, in 2013, and then at European level during the EU Presidency in 2016.
In order to implement the European agreements in the Netherlands, in February 2017 the National Plan for Open Science (NPOS) was signed by ten parties, including the KNAW (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences), NWO/ZonMw (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research /Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development), the VSNU (Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU) and the UKB (Dutch Association of the University Libraries and National Library of the Netherlands).
An important ambition of the NPOS is to achieve 100% Open Access publication by 2020. From 2020, all academic publications funded with public money must provide direct Open Access to everyone and be reusable.
The VSNU/UKB is the lead agency behind this ambition and is initiating and coordinating joint policy between the main players involved. See also the 2018-2020 ‘Road Map’ to Open Access and the VSNU’s information page on Open Access.
Further information about Open Access, the latest news, Open Access in the Netherlands and the current Open Access agreements with publishers can be found on the Dutch national information portal openaccess.nl.
The UvA committed itself to open access in 2005 by signing the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities. In 2017, the UvA signed the National Plan Open Science with the aim of realising the national transition to open science. One of the three spearheads of the NPOS is embracing open access while aiming towards achieving 100% open access.
The UvA Open Science Programme 2020-2024 includes an open-access policy, in which the UvA’s commitment to open access has been translated into responsibilities for staff:
‘As of 1 January 2021, UvA researchers will be required to register their academic publications immediately after publication and to upload the corresponding publisher’s version (or at least the accepted manuscript) to the UvA’s Current Research Information System (Pure) for long-term archiving. In addition, researchers are expected to use one of these three options to publish their work in open access:
* Preferably with a CC BY licence in line with the Plan S guidelines.
The University Library supports and facilitates all options listed in the policy, and provides support and advice to researchers concerning open-access publishing. See sections 3–9 on this web page for more information.
If you have any questions, please send them to openaccess@uva.nl.
There are plenty of Open Access publishers. Generally, Open Access publishers offer just the same quality as traditional publishers. However, there are some so-called predatory journals that provide few if any editorial services or peer review in exchange for the publication fees. So how can you determine whether a publisher or journal is reliable and of good quality?
Tip: Use the guidelines on the website Think, Check, Submit for assessing journals or publishers.
Before opting for a journal or publisher, consult the following:
Further information on assessing the quality of Open Access journals and book publishers can be found at openaccess.nl.
Free Open Access publication based on national agreements
In recent years, the Library has entered into agreements about Open Access publication with the larger traditional publishers at national level. As a result, UvA researchers can now publish in Open Access in almost 11,000 partially open (hybrid) journals either free of charge or with a discount of up to 90% on the article processing charge (APC).
Overview of publishers and conditions
There are agreements with the American Chemical Society, Cambridge University Press, Elsevier, Springer and others. You can find a full list of publishers, including the conditions, at openaccess.nl.
Open Access Journal Browser
If you want to know whether a specific journal is covered by the agreements and find out which discount applies, you can look them up in the Open Access Journal Browser.
Overview of Library discount schemes
In addition to national agreements with traditional publishers, the Library also has APC discount schemes with a number of completely Open Access publishers. Discount schemes apply with the following publishers:
BioMed Central (BMC)
Over 300 Open Access journals in the biomedical and natural sciences and mathematics. UvA researchers receive a 15% discount on the APC if they indicate that the university is a supporting member.
If you have any questions, please contact Lieuwe Kool, Head of AMC Medical Library.
Bioscientifica
Publisher with journals in the biomedical sciences. Corresponding authors can benefit from a 50% APC discount when they publish open access in the hybrid journals: Journal of Endocrinology, Journal of Molecular Endocrinology, Endocrine-Related Cancer, European Journal of Endocrinology and Reproduction.
Cogitatio
A small-scale Open Access publisher in the social sciences. For corresponding authors who use their UvA email address, Open Access publication is also free of charge with Cogitatio.
IOP Publishing
Society-owned publisher that publishes more than 85 (full open and hybrid) academic journals, as well as books and conference proceedings in the area of physics, materials science, biosciences, astronomy and astrophysics, environmental sciences, mathematics and education. UvA corresponding authors can publish open access without any additional costs in 43 hybrid journals from IOP. Please use your UvA email address and correct affiliation at submission.
John Benjamins Publishing
Publisher with almost 100 hybrid journals with a focus on the field of Language and Linguistics but also covering Cognitive Science, Psychology, (Contemporary) Philosophy, Terminology, Information Design, Literary Studies and Art History. UvA corresponding authors can publish their research articles, reviews and introductory articles open access without any additional costs in the journals (with exception of Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics) from John Benjamins. Please use your UvA email address and correct affiliation at submission.
Maandblad voor Accountancy en Bedrijfseconomie (MAB)
UvA researchers can publish free of charge in the monthly Dutch Open Access Journal of Accountancy and Business Economics.
MDPI
Open Access publisher with a large number of journals in almost all academic disciplines. The first/corresponding author receives a 10% discount on the APC. Select UvA membership when submitting and use a UvA email and/or complete the process from the UvA network.
Open Library of Humanities
Open Access platform with around 20 journals in the humanities. UvA researchers can publish free of charge in the Open Library of Humanities.
PeerJ
Open Access publisher focusing on biology and the medical sciences. Via the Library, UvA researchers can take out a lifetime publishing plan free of charge. There are 50 of these publishing plans available. Complete the process from the UvA network.
SciPost Physics
An initiative of UvA researchers, currently still primarily focusing on physics. With open peer review. UvA researchers can publish in SciPost Physics free of charge.
Sociology
The Sociology journal also offers free Open Access publishing to UvA researchers.
SpringerOpen
Publisher with more than 200 Open Access journals in almost all academic disciplines. UvA researchers receive a 15% discount if they indicate that the university is a supporting member. Use a UvA email address or complete the process from the UvA network.
If you have any questions, please contact Lieuwe Kool, Head of AMC Medical Library.
If Open Access publication is not possible with a publisher, Open Access publication of the preprint or postprint of your publication can still be done via the university repository. This can be done via Pure, the research registration system at the UvA. Open Access by means of self-archiving is also known as ‘Green Open Access’.
After archiving, publications can be downloaded via personal pages, the UvA-DARE repository and via Google Scholar.
Publishers’ embargoes
Publishers apply different embargo periods to the self-archiving of journal articles. Details of these can be found in the publisher agreement and on the website Sherpa Romeo. The Sherpa Romeo information can also be found in Pure.
If a publisher does not permit self-archiving, you can invoke your right pursuant to Section 25fa of the Copyright Act (see section 6 Making publications freely accessible) and still make the publisher’s version public after six months.
For more information, see the guide to Open Access publishing on the Pure support page.
By invoking Section 25fa of the Copyright Act (referred to as the Taverne amendment), researchers are entitled to make a short academic work funded by public resources freely accessible after a reasonable period.
Section 25fa of the Copyright Act (Auteurswet):
“The maker of a short scientific work, the research for which has been paid for in whole or in part by Dutch public funds, shall be entitled to make that work available to the public for no consideration following a reasonable period of time after the work was first published, provided that clear reference is made to the source of the first publication of the work.”
The University of Amsterdam participated in 2019 in the nationwide pilot You share, we take care! to facilitate this. The pilot was a success. Based on the Taverne amendment, the publishers’ versions of short academic publications are made freely accessible via the university repository after six months embargo.
The Library does so at the request of and in consultation with the researcher. More information on this Library service can be found at the UvA staff website, A-Z list, Open access.
Open access obligations
Most research funding organizations attach an Open Access obligation when providing research funds. These Open Access requirements can be found in the guidelines of the various research funding organizations, including the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) the several research programs from the European and private funders as Wellcome Trust or Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Upfront budgeting
Always include the costs of Open Access in your project budget. At the UvA, there are no additional funds available for claiming this type of cost retrospectively. And advantage of the national discount schemes with Open Access publishers.
Plan S – accelerating open access
Plan S is an initiative of cOAlition S – an international consortium of research funding organizations, including the NWO – aimed at accelerating the transition towards 100% Open Access. With effect from 1 January 2021, publications that result from money from these research funding organizations should be published immediately as Open Access. Plan S primarily focuses in first instance on academic articles. The requirements for monographs and book chapters will be published at a later stage.
Open access requirements
The implementation guidelines outline how researchers can meet the requirements of Plan S. The most important requirements for publishing academic articles are: immediate Open Access, accessible under a Creative Commons license and with retention of copyright.
These conditions can be met by:
Helpful tools
You can use the Journal Checker Tool that is developed by cOAlition S, to determine if a specific journals meets the Plan S requirements.
When a journal doesn’t offer any open access possibilities and the ‘self-archiving policy’ makes it impossible to archive an open version of the AAM immediately: then use the Rights Retention Strategy from cOAlition S to meet the Plan S requirements.
Implementation by NWO
NWO will implement the principles of Plan S for all calls that are published from 1 January 2021 onwards and will be applicable to publications related to those calls. See for more detailed information the webpage dedicated to Plan S by NWO. Note that the principles will also be obligatory for several ZonMW programs.
If you have any questions about Plan S, you can ask them at openaccess@uva.nl.
Many Open Access publications can be found using the Library’s discovery tool CataloguePlus (filter by ‘availability’ --> open access) and the Google Scholar search engine. There are also several search engines that specifically target Open Access publications (articles and books):
An explanation of some frequently used Open Access terminology:
Author Processing Charge (APC)
The fee paid to publish an Open Access article. In 2017, the average APC was € 1,700. Depending on the journal and publisher, the APC for Open Access articles varies from € 400 to as much as € 4,000.
Book Processing Charge (BPC)
The fee paid to publish an Open Access book. The fee for publishing an Open Access book varies according to the publisher and is between € 7,000 and € 15,000.
Corresponding author
For the publisher, the corresponding author is the person who submits the article. In order to qualify for a discount scheme, it is usually a requirement for the corresponding author to have an affiliation (employment relationship) with the UvA.
Creative Commons licence (CC)
If you declare a Creative Commons licence to be applicable to a publication, this indicates that you are waiving certain statutory copyrights. There are various types of CC licences, of which CC-BY is the least restrictive. Most research funding authorities demand or recommend this licence because this means that the publication is fully accessible according to the definitions of the Berlin Declaration (2003).
Diamond Open Access
If an author is able to publish Open Access in an Open Access journal or on an Open Access platform because the costs have already been paid by (academic) institutions, this is referred to as Diamond Open Access. Examples of this include Glossa or SciPost.
Gold Open Access
If a publication is immediately published in Open Access by a publisher with a Creative Commons licence, this is referred to as Gold Open Access. Generally, an Author Processing Charge (APC) or Book Processing Charge (BPC) is paid for this.
Green Open Access
If a version (postprint, preprint, publisher's PDF) of a publication is made public retrospectively by means of self-archiving in the University repository, for example, this is referred to as Green Open Access. No charges are involved in this.
Hybrid journal
A hybrid journal is a traditional subscription journal that also allows Open Access publication in exchange for the payment of an APC. The UvA has agreed discount schemes with the large traditional publishers at national level, enabling UvA researchers to publish free of charge in many of these journals.
Open Access
If a publication is freely accessible for everyone and its content can be read, downloaded, copied, distributed, printed, indexed, used in education, searched in and searched for, or otherwise used by anyone in accordance with the legally valid agreements, the publication is referred to as being Open Access. See also the Berlin Declaration (2003).
However, publications that are only freely accessible (Green Open Access) are often also referred to as Open Access, but they are subject to normal copyright and do not meet the above definition.
Postprint
Accepted version after peer review. This is the final version of the publication that will be published, but still without the publisher's specific layout (style, page numbers). This version is also referred to as the author accepted manuscript (AAM).
Preprint
The author’s version of the publication. This is the original form in which an author submits the publication to the publisher.