The Netherlands: paving the way for Open Access | Waiting for an echo

"Publicly funded scientific research should be freely accessible. With this basic principle firmly in mind, in 2014, the Dutch started negotiations with eight large national and international scholarly publishers, which have already borne fruit. The Netherlands is the fastest growing open access country in the world. Globally, the Netherlands is even considered an agent of change, paving the way for other countries with open access ambitions. Dutch universities believe that everyone should have open access to scholarly articles. After all, most research is publicly funded. Open access allows researchers to disseminate their results to a wider audience, which is something that can benefit all of society. The Dutch government is also strongly in favour of open access. The Dutch Secretary of State for Science wants to work towards 100% open access publications in the Netherlands by 2024, as he announced in his letter to the Lower House of the Dutch Parliament of November 15, 2013.  In their struggle for open access, universities are negotiating with big publishing houses regarding journal subscriptions, which are also known as ‘big deal’ negotiations. For around ten years, these subscriptions have been offered by publishers in package deals. The Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU, its Dutch acronym) has indicated that universities will only extend subscription contracts under the condition that publishers are willing to take serious steps towards open access ..."