L’Open Access en Belgique francophone : bientôt une réalité ?, par François Desseilles et Laurence Thys – blogdroiteuropéen

From Google Translate: "Following the example of the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and France, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation has opened the way to a policy of free access to scientific publications financed in whole or in part by public funds. Thus, on the initiative of Jean-Claude Marcourt, Minister of Higher Education, Research and Media, a preliminary draft decree was adopted at first reading by the government on 5 October 2016.

The context in which this new regulation is set up is known to all: the constant increase in the cost of subscriptions to scientific journals, which are often not commensurate with the evolution of university budgets, the advent of new ways of disseminating information, Increase the visibility of research and ensure the long-term preservation of the scientific output of academic institutions and research centers.

The principles underlying the system are simple and inspired by the institutional repository created at the University of Liège in 2007 ( ORBi, Open Repository and Bibliography ), recognized today on the international scene as an innovative model that has proved its effectiveness ( Liege Model ); In broad terms, can be summarized as follows:

• In general, and in its present form, the decree applies to any publication resulting from research work carried out by persons who benefit from public funds, even in the case of works financed by non-public sources of funding Own, patronage, external partners, etc.);
• The publisher is obliged to deposit in an open institutional archive the full text of the publication and not only the metadata of the publication;
• Are concerned in particular, publications accepted in a periodical which appear at least once a year, as well as acts of congresses, symposia or seminars, including posters and posters; Are therefore excluded the popular works and publications as well as the creations realized within the Superior Schools of Arts;
• In principle, once it has been deposited in the archive, the publication is made immediately accessible to all freely and free of charge; By exception, an embargo period of up to 12 months in the disciplines of the humanities and social sciences and 6 months in other disciplines may be set up when the author is conventionally obliged to do so;
• Finally, in order to ensure the effectiveness of the aforementioned principles, the decree requires that the lists of publications generated from the said digital archives be taken into account exclusively in the procedures for the appointment, promotion and allocation of research credits."