The VSNU is very pleased with the important step Europe has taken in Amsterdam today to accelerate the developments in Open Science. During the EU-presidency, the Netherlands has stressed the need for a European approach for Open Access to scientific publications and the optimal reuse of scientific data. In the Amsterdam Call for Action that was just presented, clear ambitions have been formulated to accomplish these goals on an international level.

The Amsterdam Call for Action was presented to State Secretary of Education, Culture, and Science, Sander Dekker, during the Open Science Conference in Amsterdam. The conference was organized as part of the Dutch EU-presidency and was attended by representatives of European universities, researchers, research institutions, publishers, and the private sector. Together, they worked on a targeted action agenda for Open Science in the coming years. By working together at the European level, with the European Commission and other member states, the Netherlands aims to accelerate the developments towards Open Science.

VSNU-president Karl Dittrich: ‘We see the support for Open Access growing among all those involved. This goes for the national as well as the international level. The Dutch universities will continue to work to turn this ‘call for action’ in the coming years into concrete action on the European level.’

In the Netherlands, researchers, universities, financing agencies, and academic publishers have made important progress regarding Open Access. Publishing Open Access is one of the VSNU’s priorities. Universities, united in the VSNU, have been negotiating with big academic publishers for over one and a half years to increase the number of Open Access articles. Karl Dittrich: ‘In Europe, the Netherlands is seen as paving the way for Open Access, but a true breakthrough to Open Access of scientific articles can only be accomplished internationally. Publishers will only alter the traditional manner of  publishing if Open Access becomes the norm in a significant number of countries.’

Please find more information about the Netherlands paving the way for Open Access here.