OpenJournals.nl offers Open Access refuge for Dutch academic journals

The KNAW has started building and setting up an Open Access magazine platform: OpenJournals.nl. The platform offers Dutch magazines an infrastructure to easily switch to digital open access publishing.

NWO finances the realization of the platform, which should be rigged by the end of 2020. By doing so, KNAW and NWO want to stimulate open access, particularly in the social sciences and the humanities. Many journals from these areas are small and do not have the means to independently switch to open access publishing. However, this is required for all journals in the nearby future. The Dutch government aims for 100% Open Access by the end of 2020 and coalition S, to which NWO and ZonMw have joined, makes open access publishing compulsory from 2021.

NWO chairman Stan Gielen: “For the diversity in the landscape, it is important that Dutch magazines also have the opportunity to switch to Open Access. From our membership of CoALition S, NWO feels a responsibility to help with this. We are pleased that the KNAW Humanities Cluster wants to take the lead in this. ”

The platform offers the digital infrastructure and technical support to publish academic journals. Editors and their journals continue to operate completely autonomously and make independent decisions about the content and the subscription structure of any paper edition. 

The publication project is based on a so-called "diamond" Open Access model. That means no Article Processing Charges (APCs) are asked from authors or editors, or otherwise financial barriers are imposed on researchers. The necessary funds are raised through "a stakeholder contribution model", such as NWO, the universities and university libraries.

For more information and sign up for journals: www.openjournals.nl