Open access

Open access of research results strengthens the impact of applied research in education, professional practice and society. This is why AUAS strives to make openly accessible research results the norm. This means that research results (such as articles, reports, manuals and datasets) are publicly accessible and preferably reusable, unless this is impossible due to, for example, knowledge security or a duty of confidentiality. This is in line with the core values of and principles set out in AUAS's Strategic Plan and Strategic Research Policy .

Research, alongside education, is a core task of AUAS, which must comply with generally recognised quality standards for this purpose. The Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity is one of the principles for safeguarding the quality of applied research at AUAS and is in line with AUAS's quality policy and the national framework Sector Protocol Research Quality Assurance .

The quality of open and other research results is expressed, among other things, in the characteristics listed below:

Peer review
When publishing research results, it is important that the peer review is of sufficient quality. This is why the expertise of the reviewers should match the subject matter of the submitted work, and parties with very quick peer review and easy acceptance conditions should be avoided.

Reuse and translation into practice
When publishing open access (via a publisher) or making research results openly available, such as a report via the HvA Research Database , can promote and facilitate use and reuse by others – students, lecturers, professionals in practice. This can be done by publishing the products with a Creative Commons licence . Working with this type of licence gives others permission in advance to disseminate, republish and reuse the research result as long as the original author is clearly cited. AUAS has adopted the principle of providing research results with the CC BY variant of this licence.

Findability
Research results resulting from research at AUAS that have an AUAS affiliation are registered by the researcher in Pure , AUAS's research registration system. This increases the findability and visibility of research results for other researchers, students, teachers and people in professional practice. It is important to label research results with the correct information when registering them, as this contributes to findability and careful citation when used by others. Including the following information at registration can help: DOI, web link to the document, full institutional information.

Visibility
Research results are compiled in Pure by registration and can be found via the HvA Research Database . In addition, open publications are also visible – and downloadable – through the external platform Publinova .

Recognisability
Results, such as reports and manuals, that stem entirely from research conducted at AUAS should be formatted in the institution's house style . Visit this page on the AUAS corporate identity for more information.

We consider it open access when research results – such as articles, books or book chapters, etc. – published by a publisher are directly accessible for the public, as well as being freely distributable and reusable.

Full and hybrid open access
There are 'full open access' publishers who only publish open access journals and/or books. In addition, there are traditional publishers who can publish open access in a subscription journal on request; these are so-called 'hybrid open access journals'. For an open access publication, publication fees or APC (article processing charges) must be paid to a commercial publisher.

Quality of publishers
There are many reliable open access publishers where research results can be published. However, there are also so-called 'predatory' or 'questionable' publishers who provide no or minimal editorial services or peer review for the publication fees paid. There are a few different ways to determine whether a publisher is reliable and of sufficient quality:

• Use the handouts on the Think. Check. Submit. website to evaluate journals from publishers or ask a colleague about their experience with a publisher.
• For journals, consult the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ): all publishers or journals included in the DOAJ meet established criteria for transparency and best practices.
• For books, consult the Directory Of Open Access Books (DOAB): this directory includes book publishers and open access books that meet the quality requirements.

Publishing an article, book chapter or book open access through a commercial publisher requires payment of publication fees.
Where possible, AUAS enters into favourable agreements with publishers that allow AUAS researchers to publish open access free of charge. However, you should always include costs for open access in the budget of an internally funded project or a grant provider such as SIA, NWO or ZonMw.

Diamond open access

There are also non-commercial initiatives where there is no publication fee. These kinds of initiatives, which are sponsored by institutions, research groups and foundations, are called 'diamond open access'; they charge no publication fees and no reading fees (subscription fees).

You can find thousands of diamond open access journals using the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), by searching with the filter 'Without fees '. One example of a diamond open access book publisher is Open Book Publishers .

Discount schemes with publishers

AUAS employees can publish free of charge open access with various publishers as the corresponding author (the person who submits the research result and communicates with the publisher) and by mentioning the AUAS affiliation (employment).

Elsevier

AUAS researchers can publish articles open access free of charge in almost all hybrid and open access journals of the publisher Elsevier. This stems from a 2020 agreement between the VH, UNL (formerly VSNU), NWO and Elsevier. The condition is that the submission must take place between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2024. Take a look at the journals covered by this agreement .

Association of Computing Machinery (ACM)

AUAS researchers can publish articles open access free of charge in the ACM publisher's hybrid (conference) journals. The condition is that an article is accepted for publication within the term of the agreement (1 January 2024 to 31 December 2026).

PeerJ.

AUAS researchers can publish articles free of charge in all journals of the open access publisher PeerJ. The condition is that the article is submitted before the end of the term of the agreement (01 January 2024 to 31 December 2024). If you want to be considered for free publication at PeerJ, fill in this form .

Research results that have not initially been published open access (with a publisher) can often still be made freely accessible. These freely accessible research results are partially open access. They are free to download or print for personal use – usually after an embargo period – but only to be used/reused or distributed with the permission of the rights holder(s).

Research results can be made freely accessible by adding an open file when registering the results in Pure. This is called 'open self-archiving'. Check out our information on open self-archiving.

Publisher embargoes for open self-archiving

Many publishers – especially academic ones – have embargo periods for open self-archiving of research results. Publishers' terms for articles can be found via the website Sherpa Romeo , and for book chapters via Google by searching 'self-archiving' chapter [publisher name]. You should preferably also agree with the publisher in advance on whether there are possibilities to meet AUAS's 'open standard'.

Publishers often do not allow the version published by the editor to be made public afterwards, but they do allow the so-called post print; the version accepted for publication and peer reviewed, without formatting features (also often called AAM or Author Accepted Manuscript).

Copyright rests with AUAS (or AUAS researchers)

If a research result, such as a report or manual, created by an AUAS researcher is not published through a publisher, it can in principle be openly archived (published) using Pure. Agree in advance with the client – a municipality or authority – whether it is possible to meet AUAS's 'open standard'. You should always take into account any duty of confidentiality and rules around knowledge security.

Almost all grant providers attach an open access requirement to their funding, these can be found in their guidelines.

Plan S - Making full and immediate Open Access a reality

Plan S is an initiative of cOAlition S, an international consortium of grant providers, including the Dutch Research Council (NWO), that aims to accelerate the transition from closed publishing to 100% open access. From 1 January 2021, therefore, publications resulting from grants from these grant providers, including NWO and ZonMw, must immediately be published open access. You can find more information in the implementation guidelines of cOAlition S.

Resources

The so-called Journal Checker Tool can find out for a specific journal whether, and how, you can meet the stated open access requirements of cOAlition S.

If a journal does not offer an open access option or the publisher does not allow you to meet the conditions of cOAlition S, cOAlition S's Rights Retention Strategy can be used to still make an article open access.