A first-of-its-kind partnership to drive the future of open science in the Netherlands

"A partnership that aims to deliver a new way of working for science has been forged between the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU), the Netherlands Federation of University Medical Centres (NFU), the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and Elsevier. The partnership includes publishing and reading services for Dutch research institutions. As a result, 95 percent of Dutch articles can be made immediately open access. The agreement also covers access to all Elsevier content.

What’s significant about this agreement is that the parties involved worked in partnership to carefully develop a collaboration that will shape new open science services in the Netherlands. The country has a notable heritage in higher education spanning hundreds of years. The QS World University Rankings 2019 includes 13 universities in the Netherlands, all within the world's top 350 and seven in the top 150 — a testament to the strong international reputation of Dutch institutions. To help the country remain at the forefront of research in the decades to come, this partnership includes the development of open science services related to research intelligence and scholarly communication, making it the first such agreement of its kind. Open Science aims to make science more open, reproducible, inclusive and collaborative...."