The list of 30 initiatives supported by the VU Open Access Innovation Fund offers researchers good recommendations to make their work open immediately, according to Anne van den Maagdenberg, Open Access Librarian at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. “Through this approach, we make it clear that there are enough high-quality Open Access options that prevent a monopoly of the large commercial publishers.”
“By focusing on these diamond initiatives where you do not have to pay to publish, we are also taking a step towards equal opportunities for everyone in the world to publish openly. Even if you are not affiliated with a wealthy university that can cover your costs”, says Van den Maagdenberg. “This fits in nicely with the core values of VU Amsterdam. We believe that social involvement and accessibility are important values. It is great that the Innovation Fund enables us to invest in publication options that share these values.”
Among the initiatives are general services, such as the Directory of Open Access Journals, which provide an overview of all high-quality fully Open Access journals. But also supported are subject-specific preprint servers, such as PsyArxiv or ChemRxiv, where you can share your research results directly and for free. The fund also looks beyond articles and supports Open Access book publishers as well as a modular platform such as ResearchEquals, where every ‘step’ of your research can be published. “All these platforms are good examples of where you can go to publish open, free and equitable.”
Another €75,000 has been set aside for the fund in 2024, so it can continue giving boosts to great Open Access initiatives by and for researchers.
Read more information about the fund and view an overview of the supported initiatives.
