Open Access agreement with John Wiley & Sons

A new peak in the road to Open Access. Publisher John Wiley and Sons makes all Dutch publications freely accessible through hybrid journals.At the end of 2015, Dutch universities reached an agreement with Elsevier. In two years, 30 percent of Elsevier publications by Dutch scientists should be available through Open Access.

John Wiley and Sons is the first publisher to make all Dutch publications Open Access. It does this through the hybrid method, meaning that only individual articles are accessible for everyone to read. The entire magazine is still paid content, universities can pay for a subscription to make it accessible for students and employees. Researchers do not have to pay extra for the open publication, as is often the case now.

The agreement applies to the period between 2016 and 2019. Tilburg University chairman Koen Becking, negotiator on behalf of the Dutch universities, is happy: “The Netherlands is living up to its pioneering reputation now that a second major publisher has opted for hundred percent open access. It is a huge step forward.”