A great deal of support from experts in the field

Project organisation

The project organisation will be directly managed by the General Board of the VSNU, with a great deal of support from experts in the field. This is the same organisation in which Robert van der Vooren established the original open-access strategy, which will be continued by the new project manager Wilma van Wezenbeek over the next two years.

An effective strategy can be organised by means of:

  1. a unique negotiation model,
  2. political support,
  3. staying true to your principles, and
  4. selecting a highly effective delegation of negotiators.

 

Inspiring example

‘I have noticed that our negotiating structure serves as an inspiring example to foreign universities,’ said VSNU director Babs van den Bergh about her colleagues within the EUA, an important European umbrella organisation representing over 800 universities. 'The Netherlands is a small country with closely collaborating universities and a strong library consortium. This created excellent conditions to make a success of our idea,' explains Robert van der Vooren.

 

Everyone is needed for 100% open access

‘We're really making a difference now,’ says Wilma van Wezenbeek, who has been part of the VSNU open-access team in the past years. ‘Recently, together with the director of the University of Amsterdam Library, I wrote down our approach from the perspective of the libraries (see the preprint of the article). We must continue our drive towards 100% open access. It is vital that everyone plays their part: the researchers themselves, the department managers – who need to realise just how important open science and open access are, university library staff, ICT, HR, legal staff, the staff at Surfmarket and the institutions working together with us to achieve this ambition. And last but not least, the publishers.’

Robert van der Vooren

Wilma van Wezenbeek

Babs van den Bergh

 

Colophon

 

This is a publication of the VSNU. More information (newsletters, fact sheets and more) can be found via
http://vsnu.nl/en_GB/openaccess-eng.html.

Design and realization: Designwise

Visual material: Shutterstock, portrait photographs VSNU

 

Previous open access e-zines: Greater impact with open access! and The Netherlands: paving the way for open access.

 

March 2018