The Hague/Amsterdam, 10 December 2015 – The Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU) and scientific information provider Elsevier have reached an agreement in principle that marks a milestone in the Netherlands’ transition to Open Access scholarly publishing and provides Dutch researchers with continued subscription access to high-quality research.

Details of this 3-year agreement, which is to start in 2016, will be finalized in the near future.

“We are pleased about this agreement as it facilitates a sustainable transition to Open Access,” said Prof. Gerard Meijer, chief negotiator for the VSNU and Chairman of Radboud University Nijmegen. “It gives academics at Dutch universities subscription access to Elsevier journals and allows them to publish Open Access in a selection of these journals. The Dutch universities aim to make 30% of their researchers’ publications Open Access by 2018 this the agreement makes it possible to get there. It’s genuinely good news and a big deal for Open Access in the Netherlands."

Philippe Terheggen, Elsevier Managing Director Journals, said: “We welcome the agreement as the continued subscription access to a substantial part of the world’s highest-quality, peer-reviewed research is essential to the Netherlands maintaining its position as one of the world’s most impactful research nations. In addition, increased Open Access publishing options will be available to Dutch researchers to globally share their work.”

The agreement is in line with the objective of Sander Dekker, State Secretary at the Ministry for Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands, to transition Dutch scientific output towards an Open Access publishing model.

Click here for more information.