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OA advocacy
Open access benefits researchers, institutions, nations and society as a whole. There are significant economic, social and educational benefits to making research outputs available without financial, legal and technical barriers to access.
Universities and research funding agencies have been implementing open access policies since 2004.
Institutional open access policy may be voluntary (e.g. requesting that researchers make their work open access in the institutional repository) or mandatory (e.g. requiring that researchers make their work open access in the institutional repository). Although voluntary policies were initially popular, new institutional policies are now usually mandatory. Mandatory policies do result in a high level of self-archiving which in turn provides a university with the increased visibility and impact that open access promises.
EIFL-OA in action
Watch videos in which EIFL-OA partner countries share their advocacy efforts.
Open access policies
Open access policies (mandates) ensure that research funded by institutions is made freely available. Such policies have been adopted by 38 institutions in the EIFL network. Learn more.
Open access policy initiatives have also been discussed and implemented on the national level in Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, South Africa and China (Hong Kong). See more information.
OpenAIRE
Since December 1, 2009, EIFL has participated in the OpenAIRE project (Open Access Infrastructure for Research in Europe) along with 37 other partners covering almost all 27 European Union member states and one associated state (Norway). This EC-funded 3-year project launched an e-infrastructure and created a network of experts to support the researchers towards meeting the demands of the EC-OA policies. It also liases with other OA activities in Europe to achieve widespread adoption of OA policies. EIFL coordinates activities in 10 Eastern European countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
OpenAIREplus
Since December 1, 2011, EIFL has participated in the OpenAIREplus project (2nd Generation of Open Access Infrastructure for Research in Europe) along with 41 other partners covering 31 European countries. The 30 month project, funded by the EC 7th Framework Programme, will work in tandem with OpenAIRE, extending the mission further to facilitate access to the entire Open Access scientific production of the European Research Area, providing cross-links from publications to data and funding schemes.EIFL is responsible for interaction with National Open Access Desks (NOADs) and oversees and guides NOADs in 11 Eastern European countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
International Open Access Week
Over 30 EIFL partner countries organised events during International Open Access Week 2011. Open Access Week 2012 will take place all over the world between October 22 and 28. Tthis year's theme is "Set the Default to Open Access". Open Access Week is an opportunity for the academic and research community to learn about the potential benefits of open access, to share ideas with colleagues, and to inspire wider participation in establishing open access as a norm in scholarship and research.
Contact us
If you are from an EIFL partner country and are interested in open access advocacy activities, please contact the EIFL Open Access programme manager Iryna Kuchma, iryna.kuchma[at]eifl.net.
Resources
EIFL-OA case studies describing the results and lessons learnt of 13 projects supported in 2011 that implemented national and institutional open access advocacy campaigns to reach out to research communities and open access publishing initiatives.
You can see EIFL-OA advocacy events and seminars on the EIFL-OA Training page.
You can also browse resources about open access impact and costs and benefits of open access for institutions and nations.
If you are looking for examples of successful open access advocacy campaigns, see the following websites:
- Repository Support Project
- SPARC
- Open Access Scholarly Information Sourcebook (OASIS)
- NECOBELAC project
If you are interested in introducing open access policy in your institution see Peter Suber’s Open access policy options for funding agencies and universities and Policy Guidelines for the Development and Promotion of Open Access, written by Dr. Alma Swan.
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