On behalf of the higher education sector, the Norwegian Directorate for ICT and Joint Services in Higher Education and Research (Unit) has entered into the first agreement of this kind. In the work for open access to research results, this represents a breakthrough.
UiO?s Vice-Rector ?se Gornitzka, and UiB Pro-Rector, Margareth Hagen, have been following the negotiations with Elseviser on behalf of their institutions, and state that:
"Elsevier's journals are important for our researchers. We are very pleased with this agreement. Negotiations have been demanding, but show what the university and college sector can achieve when bargaining collectively in international negotiations. The agreement provides a clear turning towards Open Access and a significant number of articles can be published openly every year in close to all of Elsevier's 2000 journals. The cost of publishing is within the limits of what the institutions are paying today."
Access to articles in Elsevier’s journals
The agreement also ensures that students and researchers have reading access to Elsevier journals included in the Freedom Collection, as under the previous agreement.
Open Access publishing
The University Library has started the process of facilitating for researchers who wish to publish open access through the agreement with Elsevier. Information can be found at the library's web pages, and questions can be directed to openaccess@ub.uio.no.
Negotiated by Unit on behalf of Norwegian universities and colleges
Unit, the Norwegian Directorate for ICT and Joint Services in Higher Education and Research, negotiates on behalf of Norwegian research institutions. The negotations are based on the Government's national goals and guidelines, issued in 2017. Unit has negotiated with academic publishers about agreements that will ensure open access to articles published by Norwegian researchers. Unit has been negotiating with Elsevier through 2018 and on overtime in 2019 until an agreement was reached. This agreement now entered into is in line with the Government's "National Objectives and Guidelines for Open Access to Scientific Articles" and contributes to the modernization and restructuring of research.